THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


Prom  the  collection  of 
Julius  Doerner,  Chicago 
Purchased,  1918, 


OF  THL 

UNIVERSITY 
Of  ILLINOIS 


C7Ss 

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1 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY 


HISTORICAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 


^ Jttanual  for  tfie  ^People, 


BY 

W.  J.  COLVILLE, 

Author  or  “ Spiritual  Therapeutics,”  Etc. 


“There  is  no  Religion  higher  than  Truth.” 

— Motto  of  the  Theosophical  Society. 


BOSTON : 

COLBY  & KICK,  PUBLISHERS, 
9 Bosworth  Street. 


Copyright,  1889, 
By  W.  J.  COLVILLE, 


Typography  by  J.  8.  Cushing  & Co.,  Boston. 
Presswork  by  Berwick  & Smith,  Boston. 


a/a 

cms 

l ’^00 


PEEFACE. 


In  presenting  to  the  world  a popular  treatise  on 
Theosophy,  the  author,  who  is  in  some  respects  merely 
an  amanuensis  and  in  others  a compiler,  desires  to  offer 
to  the  reading  public,  in  portable  form  and  at  moderate 
price,  a work  which  shall,  in  spite  of  many  obvious  limi- 
tations, possess  the  following  advantages  : — 

1st.  Lucidity  of  statement,  conciseness  of  style,  and 
freedom  from  all  unnecessary  use  of  technical  or  foreign 
terms. 

2d.  A systematic  and  orderly  review  of  the  Theo- 
sophic  teachings  of  many  of  the  world’s  greatest  teachers 
of  ancient  and  modern  times,  and  notably  an  impartial 
presentation  of  the  views  of  great  bodies  of  religionists 
and  philosophers  whose  theories  have  frequently  been 
misstated  or  criticised  in  an  unfriendly  spirit. 

3d.  A practical  digest  of  the  teachings  of  Universal 
Theosophy  and  an  application  of  these  to  the  great 
industrial,  social,  and  religious  problems  of  the  present 
day. 

4th.  Practical  advice  and  direction  to  students  seek- 
ing to  translate  theory  into  practice,  and  express  in 
some  measure,  in  their  own  lives,  the  truth  so  easily 
and  frequently  stated  orally  and  on  paper. 


4 


PPvEFACE. 


5th.  Reviews  of  current  Theosophical  and  kindred 
literature  in  the  form  of  short  sketches  or  digests  of 
the  contents  of  such  publications,  designed  for  the  two- 
fold purpose  of  calling  attention  to  increasing  interest 
in  such  works,  thi*ough  extending  a knowledge  of  them, 
and  to  help  busy  people  who  have  little  opportunity  for 
extensive  reading  to  get  as  much  information  as  possi- 
ble during  their  limited  periods  of  leisure. 

The  following  essays  and  reviews  have  been  prepared 
amid  a multiplicity  of  other  engagements ; no  claim  is 
made  for  perfection  of  literary  style  nor  for  exhaustive- 
ness in  treatment.  Such  a book  as  the  one  now  offered, 
many  people  have  long  felt  to  be  in  demand;  and  in 
response  to  numerous  and  urgent  requests  it  has  now 
been  compiled  and  thrown  upon  the  sea  of  public  ap- 
proval or  criticism,  to  meet  whatever  fate  may  be  its 
destiny.  As  an  evidence  of  the  interest  taken  in  it 
prior  to  publication,  it  need  only  be  stated  that  consid- 
erably more  than  1000  copies  were  ordered  and  paid 
for  before  the  manuscript  was  placed  in  the  publishers’ 
hands ; by  this  means  the  entire  cost  of  production  was 
defrayed  in  advance  by  the  concerted  action  of  confid- 
ing subscribers.  All  who  thus  secured  its  production 
and  freedom  from  liability  received  their  copies  before 
the  book  was  placed  in  the  general  market.  A sec- 
ond edition  from  electroplates  is  now  being  prepared, 
which  will  be  offered  to  the  world  at  large,  at  $1.50  per 
copy,  post  free,  or  6s.  in  England.  As  soon  as  the  de- 
mand warrants  the  issue  of  a very  large  edition,  thereby 
greatly  reducing  the  cost  per  copy,  the  price  will  be  per- 
manently fixed  at  $1.00  in  America,  4s.  in  England  and 


PREFACE. 


5 


the  Colonies,  thereby  placing  it  at  half  the  usual  price 
for  a book  of  similar  size  and  style  in  the  hands  of  all 
interested.  Hoping  it  may  do  somebody  some  good,  it 
is  trustingly  committed  to  the  world  by  the  compiler, 

W.  J.  COLVILLE. 

N.  B.  The  twenty-four  lectures  which  constitute  a considerable 
portion  of  this  book  were  originally  delivered  inspiration atUy  by 
W.  J.  Colville  to  classes  in  San  Francisco  and  other  cities.  As 
a great  desire  was  expressed  by  numerous  persons  who  attended 
them,  for  their  publication,  reports  were  taken  from  time  to  time, 
which  were  subsequently  revised  and  altered  whenever  necessary 
to  adapt  them  for  permanent  reading. 


CONTENTS 


LECTURE  I.  PAGE 

Theosophy:  what  it  is,  and  what  it  is  not 9 

LECTURE  II. 

The  Teachings  of  Theosophy,  as  promulgated  by  the  Theo- 
sopHiCAL  Society,  considered  in  a Review  of  a widely 
circulating  Pamphlet 22 

LECTURE  III. 

The  Work  and  Possibilities  of  the  Theosophical  Society 

AND  ITS  Branches 40 

LECTURE  IV. 

Miracles  and  Modern  Thought 64 

LECTURE  V. 

Egyptian  Theosophy 68 

LECTURE  VI. 

Egyptian  Theosophy  (continued). — The  Great  Pyramid  . . 86 

LECTURE  VII. 

Atlantis 102 

LECTURE  VIII. 

Fragments  of  Forgotten  History;  or,  Atlantis  “recon- 
structed ” 130 

LECTURE  IX. 

Oriental  Theosophy.  — Brahmanism  and  Buddhism  . . . 157 

LECTURE  X. 

Through  the  Ages.  A Study  of  the  Soul’s  Progression  through 
Repeated  Earthly  Experiences 174 


8 


CONTENTS. 


LECTURE  XI.  page 

A Further  Study  of  Embodiment.  — The  Law  op  Karma 
(Sequence),  and  how  it  operates  in  Daily  Life  . . . 198 

LECTURE  XII. 

The  Mystery  of  the  Ages.  — The  Secret  Doctrine  con- 
tained IN  All  Religions 230 

LECTURE  XIII. 

Persian,  Greek,  and  Roman  Theosophy 264 

LECTURE  XIV. 

Chinese  Theosophy.  — Confucianism  .........  271 

LECTURE  XV. 

Electrical  Christian  Theosophy  ; Electricity  the  Basis 

of  Life  ; an  Electric  Creed  ; Electrical  Therapeutics,  297 

LECTURE  XVI. 

Theism,  Spiritualism,  and  Theosophy  : their  Essential 
Agreement  and  Necessary  Union  343 

LECTURE  XVII. 

The  Attitude  of  Theosophy  toward  Spiritualism  and  All 
the  Great  Religions  of  the  World 366 

LECTURE  XVIII. 

Theosophy,  Spiritualism,  and  Christianity 388 

LECTURE  XIX. 

Why  are  there  Contradictory  Teachings  through  Me- 
diums?— What  is  the  True  Standard  of  Authority?.  408 

LECTURE  XX. 

Ingersollism  and  Theosophy.  — Colonel  Ingersoll’s  Creed,  431 
LECTURE  XXI. 

“Robert  Elsmere  or,  the  Old  Fetters  and  the  New  Faith,  455 
LECTURE  XXII. 

Christ  re-conceived;  or,  the  Basis  of  the  New  Religion  . 475 


APPENDIX 487 


LECTURE  I. 


THEOSOPHY:  WHAT  IT  IS,  AND  WHAT  IT  IS  NOT. 

At  a time  when  Theosophy  is  being  most  absurdly 
identified  in  the  public  mind  with  a special  idea  of 
Hinduism,  it  seems  the  plain  duty  of  those  who  know 
better,  to  speak  out  boldly  and  with  no  uncertainty  of 
tone  in  explanatory  defence  of  the  great  movement 
known  as  Theosophical,  now  inviting  the  world  to  a 
fuller  understanding,  than  has  heretofore  been  practical, 
of  the  various  outward  forms  and  systems  in  which  the 
one  essential  truth  of  religion  has  manifested  its  spirit 
through  the  ages.  To  those  of  our  readers  who  have 
not  made  etymology  a study,  we  would  particularly 
emphasize  the  right  use  of  the  word  religion^  which 
means  union,  righteousness,  co-operation,  and  a great 
deal  more  which  is  thoroughly  practical,  and  indeed 
essential  to  human  welfare. 

Free  religion  may  be  said  to  mean  religion  untram- 
melled by  creeds  and  dogmas,  which,  in  the  very  nature 
of  things,  are  not  susceptible  of  absolute,  or  indeed 
sufficient  verification  to  commend  them  as  certainties 
to  an  intelligent  mind.  Matthew  Arnold,  one  of  the 
greatest  literary  lights  of  the  present  century,  was 
never  tired  of  enforcing  his  favorite  proposition,  that 
religion  really  means  righteousness ; and  that,  as  this  is 


10 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


SO,  it  behooves  all  men  who  have  an  eye  to  the  general 
welfare  of  humanity,  to  hold  together  as  much  as  pos- 
sible in  support  of  all  institutions  which  are  on  the  side 
of  the  higher  nature  of  man.  Arnold,  being  an  Eng- 
lishman, and  a patriotic  Englishman,  naturally  felt 
a warm  affection  for  English  institutions,  and  thus 
worked  diligently  in  the  interests  of  the  Established 
Church;  though  in  many  if  not  all  his  essays  he  has 
put  a construction  upon  the  Hebrew  and  Christian 
Scriptures,  and  the  object  and  meaning  of  church  ordi- 
nances, entirely  at  variance  with  popular  tradition. 

We  mention  Arnold,  as  he  is  a well-known  author, 
deservedly  respected  by  reason  of  his  general  fairness, 
breadth,  and  liberality  (though,  unfortunately,  he  is 
neither  fair,  broad,  nor  liberal  in  his  summary  dismissal 
of  Spiritualism),  only  as  an  example  of  the  tone  adopted 
toward  religion  by  men  of  culture,  who  in  a great  gen- 
eral way  are  disposed  to  treat  all  matters  without 
prejudice  or  undue  bias.  Those  who  oppose  religion 
violently  are  almost  invariably  destitute  of  any  ap- 
proach to  genuine  culture ; or,  if  literary  and  scholarly, 
they  are  so  violently  led  by  passion  or  strong  feeling  as 
to  become  victims  of  emotion  rather  than  calm  delib- 
erators in  the  open  court  of  general  appeal.  For  bigots 
and  partisans  we  do  not  attempt  to  write,  nor  are  we 
anxious  to  address  them  or  converse  with  them  at  any 
time  on  subjects  of  moment  to  humanity,  for  the  simple 
reason  that  they  are  determined  to  see  only  one  side  of 
any  question.  Such  people  may  be  fervidly  religious 
or  flagrantly  irreligious,  in  the  popular  acceptation  of 
those  words ; but  in  either  case  prejudice  blinds  them  ; 


LECTUBE  I. 


11 


they  are  convinced  that  all  truth  is  in  some  one  narrow 
system  of  their  own  ; and  while  they  prate  of  science, 
they  are  hopeless  sophists  or  sciolists,  undertaking  most 
irrationally  to  force  upon  the  world  one  system  of 
thought  only,  and  that  system  one  so  exclusive  as  to 
condemn  probably  ninety-nine  per  cent  of  the  human 
family  either  to  the  hell  of  orthodoxy  or  the  society  of 
fools  and  knaves  which  constitutes  the  Tartarus  of  the 
heterodox. 

Now  for  any  one  to  come  to  the  study  of  Theosophy 
pre-determined  to  prove  one  system  of  religion  all  right 
and  other  systems  all  wrong,  is  for  him  to  so  disqualify 
himself  for  the  task  before  him  as  to  make  his  study 
useless.  We  therefore  appeal  only  to  the  fair-minded 
and  liberal,  and  these  we  address  with  the  certain  con- 
viction that  they  will  not  object  to  the  motto,  There 
is  no  religion  higher  than  truth.”  But  what  is  Truth  ? 
Pilate  is  not  dead  yet ; his  modern  representatives  are 
still  asking  the  same  old  question,  and,  unfortunately, 
those  of  Pilate’s  ilk  (or  perhaps  fortunately)  may  go 
on  asking  it  as  long  as  they  are  of  the  mental  fibre  of 
Pilate,  to  the  end  of  any  number  of  ages  or  worlds,  and 
still  receive  no  answer  from  those  who  have  the  knowl- 
edge of  truth  within  them. 

This  statement  may  seem  confounding  to  many,  but 
those  whom  it  is  likely  to  confound  have  not  studied 
the  Pilate  nature,  which  is  by  no  means  an  attractive 
or  lovely  one.  Pilate  is  not  even  an  honest  curiosity- 
seeker  ; he  is  not  simply  inquisitive ; surely  he  is  a 
traitor  to  conviction,  a spurner  of  divine  voices,  an 
open  disregarder  of  heavenly  messages ; in  a word,  a 


12 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


selfish,  scheming,  hypocritical  demagogue,  who  puts  his 
private  interest  before  all  justice,  and  willingly  con- 
demns the  innocent  to  death,  so  that  he  may  curry 
favor  with  the  rulers  of  the  earth.  His  own  wife  points 
out  to  him  the  danger  and  iniquity  of  his  way.  His 
conscience  indorses  all  she  says  to  him,  but  he  seeks  to 
evade  conscience  by  washing  his  hands,  and  after  delib- 
erately grieving  the  Spirit,  impertinently  sneers  forth 
the  question,  which  from  his  lips  is  an  audacious  insult, 
X What  is  Truth  ? 

Those  who  would  receive  reply  to  this  all-important 
query  must  not  think  that  truth  can  be  had  for  the 
asking,  by  those  who  if  they  got  it  would  only  trample 
on  it,  or  at  best  pervert  it  to  their  selfish  and  ungodly 
ends.  Truth  is  a prize  to  be  won  only  by  those  who 
seek  it  with  a view  to  use  it  wisely  when  they  have 
procured  it,  and  we  therefore  unhesitatingly  conclude 
and  announce  that  truth  never  will  become  public 
property  or  be  anything  like  universally  dispersed, 
till  the  great  masses  of  mankind  are  desirous  of  lay- 
ing aside  selfishness,  and  ceasing  from  competition, 
learn  to  co-operate  for  each  other’s  good  in  all  things. 
Theosophy,  which  simply  means  divine  wisdom,  incul- 
V cates  one  dogma,  and  that  is.  The  universal  broth- 
erhood OF  MAN.  No  one  can  be  admitted  into  the 
Theosophical  Society  who  does  not  profess  this  one 
great  article  of  faith.  All  other  points  are  secondary ; 
this  alone  is  fundamental  and  essential.  Now  that 
Edward  Bellamy’s  glorious  book,  ‘‘  Looking  Backward,” 
is  circulating  by  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of 
copies,  and  clubs  are  forming  everywhere  for  the  dis- 


LECTURE  I. 


13 


semination  of  co-operative  ideas  and  the  practicalization 
of  co-operative  principles,  the  time  is  fully  ripe  for  a 
clear,  concise  statement  of  Theosophical  teachings. 

In  this  series  of  lectures  or  articles  we  propose  for 
the  special  assistance  of  busy  people  who  have  little 
time  to  read  large  and  numerous  works  on  the  subject, 
to  present  as  well  as  we  can,  in  brief  abstract,  an  epit- 
ome of  the  teachings  of  the  world’s  renowned  sages, 
ancient  and  modern ; and  at  the  same  time  pay  merited 
tribute  to  many  lesser  lights,  less  well-known  names 
who  have  identified  or  are  still  identifying  themselves 
with  the  onward  march  of  progress.  The  constitution 
of  the  Theosophical  Society  recommends  that  truth 
shall  be  allowed  to  dawn  gradually  upon  the  race.  It 
discourages  all  ambitious  attempts  at  proselyting,  and 
affirms,  with  regard  to  those  who  are  satisfied  with  their 
present  religious  convictions,  that  they  are  probably 
partaking  of  the  aliment  best  adapted  to  their  immedi- 
ate needs.  But  who  can  fail  to  meet  with  more  or  less 
of  that  increasingly  vast  army  of  eagerly  inquiring  souls 
who  are  not  content  with  *what  they  receive,  either 
through  the  channel  of  popular  religion  or  scientific 
agnosticism  ? This  multitude  must  be  fed,  or  they  will 
perish.  They  are  the  hungry  and  thirsty  ones  who  cry 
loudly,  incessantly,  for  living  bread  and  water,  and  to  dis- 
regard their  cry  or  tell  them  to  be  content  with  what  can- 
not satisfy  their  appetite  for  truth,  is  cruel  and  culpable. 

It  is  stated  in  many  quarters  that  there  are  mystic 
brotherhoods  in  the  East  and  also  in  Europe,  composed 
of  men  who  have  gained  wondrous  insight  into  the  laws 
and  forces  of  the  universe,  but  that  these  Mahatmas,  as 


14 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


they  are  often  styled,  are  unwilling  to  reveal  their 
knowledge  to  the  multitude.  We  doubt  very  much  if 
the  latter  portion  of  that  statement  is  correct ; we 
would  rather  institute  a parallel  by  way  of  explanation. 
A professor  of  mathematics,  for  example,  knows  exactly 
how  to  solve  many  very  difficult  problems  pertaining  to 
the  higher  mathematics.  Some  schoolboys  not  yet  fully 
conversant  with  simple  fractions  urge  him  to  tell  them 
how  to  solve  one  of  the  most  difficult  problems  known 
to  mathematical  science.  What  reply  must  he  make  to 
their  request  ? Two,  and  only  two,  courses  are  open 
to  him.  He  can  refuse  to  comply  with  it,  and  thereby 
enkindle  their  ire  ; or  he  can  waste  time  by  working  it 
all  out  on  a blackboard  under  their  very  eyes,  they, 
meanwhile,  stolidly  gazing  with  open-mouthed  curiosity, 
but  failing  utterly  to  comprehend  the  demonstration. 
To  refuse  their  request  is  economical;  to  grant  it  is 
wasteful  of  time  and  energy.  If  he  choose  the  former 
and  not  the  latter  course,  he  should  give  them  his  rea- 
son for  refusal,  by  informing  them  that  they  need  to  go 
through  a course  of  preparatory  training,  which  he  has 
been  through  already,  before  they  can  comprehend  the 
solution.  Then,  when  they  are  ready  to  enter  his  class, 
he  will  gladly  instruct  them. 

It  is  with  the  Mahatmas,  as  it  is  with  the  higher 
intelligences,  familiar  by  name  at  least  to  all  Spirit- 
ualists ; angels  from  celestial  heights  of  attainment  do 
not  make  a noise  moving  furniture  from  place  to  place, 
or  alphabetically  spelling  out  messages  through  a table 
or  talking-board,  nor  do  they  respond  to  mercenary  and 
trivial  inquiries  regarding  business  and  the  details  of 


LECTURE  I. 


15 


earthly  affairs  in  general.  Some  answer  we  do  get  to 
all  the  questions  we  propound.  Some  force  does  mani- 
fest itself,  no  matter  in  what  spirit  or  with  what  intent 
we  singly  inquire  or  gather  together ; but  is  it  rational 
to  presume,  is  it  not  rather  the  height  of  folly  to  imag- 
ine, that  trivial  minds  with  trivial  ends  in  view  can 
summon  the  brightest  intellects  in  the  universe  to 
chatter  platitudes  with  them ; and  is  it  not  an  impudent 
blasphemy  to  imagine  that  souls  interested  in  the  wel- 
fare of  all  humanity  on  the  highest  spiritual  plane,  will 
dance  attendance  on  the  would-be  gambler  in  stocks  or 
purchaser  of  a prize-winning  lottery  ticket  ? Yet  such 
are  the  stupid  puerilities  manifested  by  some  people 
calling  themselves  Spiritualists  from  day  to  day,  that 
we  hardly  wonder  at  the  ill  odor  Spiritualism  is  in,  in 
some  communities  where  these  abound  or  shove  them- 
selves to  the  front  as  organizers  and  dictators.  Such 
men  as  the  justly  revered  Prof.  Henry  Kiddle  of  New 
York  and  other  estimable  Spiritualists  have  happily 
been  as  severe  as  reason  demands  in  denunciation  of 
such  idiocy. 

Theosophy  and  Spiritualism  are  essentially  one  and 
inseparable,  and  as  to  Christian  Science  and  all  allied^ 
systems  of  thought  and  practice,  they  are  but  sectional 
extensions  of  one  and  the  same  root  idea.  Our  object 
is  to  overcome  the  sectarian  spirit  in  our  students,  and 
we  know  that  whenever  a university  is  in  operation 
which  can  meet  the  real  demands  of  the  age  for  spirit- 
ual and  moral  enlightenments,  no  such  hair-splitting  as 
now  prevails  will  be  permissible  or  possible.  But,  say 
many  of  our  questioners  and  correspondents,  Spiritual- 


16 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


ists  believe  in  many  spirits,  Christian  Science  acknowl- 
edges but  one  Spirit;  Theosophy  teaches  final  extinction 
of  individuality,  while  Spiritualism  insists  upon  its  end- 
^ less  perpetuation : how  can  you  in  the  face  of  these 
glaring  contradictions  declare  that  the  three  systems 
are  essentially  one  ? 

Our  unequivocal  and  decidedly  undismayed  answer 
to  all  these  queries  and  questioners  is,  that  the  ques- 
tioners in  the  case  take  a painfully  superficial  view  of 
the  subjects  on  which  they  express  views  or  seek  en- 
lightenment. Apparent  contradictions  may  not  be  in 
the  least  contradictory,  or  even  paradoxical,  when  looked 
at  more  closely  and  examined  more  searchingly;  and 
in  the  case  before  us  we  see  no  obstacle  in  the  way  of  a 
perfect  reconciliation  of  these  at  first  sight  diametrically 
opposite  statements.  The  declaration,  there  is  but  one 
Spirit^  does  not  at  all  imply  that  the  individuality  or, 
at  least,  the  identity  (a  better  and  higher  word)  of  each 
Spiritual  entity  is  not  eternal.  One  spirit,  one  life, 
one  substance,  one  nature,  and  only  one,  means  that 
there  are  not  two  or  more  essential  constitutions  of 
things,  that  all  heterogeneity  is  reducible  to  homo- 
geneity, and  thus  all  human  beings  are  brothers  and 
sisters  in  the  fullest  meaning  of  those  familiar  words. 
Universal  brotherhood,  which  is  the  basis  of  Theosophy 
^ and  without  which  the  very  attempt  to  practise  Chris- 
tian Science  Mind  Healing  ” is  farcical,  can  be  logically 
deduced  and  scientifically  demonstrated,  if  we  can 
prove  that  we  are  all  of  one  spirit,  essence,  or  nature ; 
a statement  only  tantamount  to  the  declaration,  All 
men  are  born  free  and  equal,”  or  to  such  a saying  as 


LECTURE  I. 


17 


You  are  as  good  as  I am,  and  I am  as  good  as  you 
are.”  A common  base  on  which  all  nature  rests  de- 
clares all  men  brothers,  all  women  sisters  ; it  denies 
away,  ix.  effectually  removes,  vanquishes,  overcomes, 
hostility  between  man  and  man,  nation  and  nation  ; 
it  strips  us  of  false  pride  and  causes  us  to  think  of  our- 
selves no  more  highly  and  no  more  lowly  than  we  ought 
to  think,  by  disposing  us  to  an  equal  regard  one  for 
another. 

Again  we  reiterate  our  primal  conclusion : the  base  of 
Theosophy  is  brotherhood,  and  only  brotherhood.  It 
may  use  the  three  immortal  watchwords  of  freedom, 
liberty,  equality,  fraternity,  and  give  to  them  an  ex- 
tended meaning  which  politics  can  never  grasp.  In 
the  next  place  we  shall  do  well  to  consider  that  there 
is  not  a scrap  of  evidence  that  extinction  of  the  lower 
selfhood  ever  signified  loss  of  identity  to  any  profound 
or  penetrative  mind.  A belief  in  the  ultimate  suspen- 
sion of  individual  consciousness  is  a vulgar  conceit  of 
the  ignorant  with  no  more  justification  in  the  Vedas 
than  in  the  New  Testament,  both  of  which  compilations 
or  literatures  have  much  to  say  of  two  selves,  — one,  the 
(lower)  mortal,  the  other  (higher),  immortal.  Both 
agree  that  we  lose  the  lower  in  the  higher,  or  we  are 
warned  there  is  at  least  a temporal  if  not  an  eternal 
danger  of  our  losing  the  higher  through  an  over-culti- 
vation and  exercise  of  the  lower.  Now  Theosophy,  or 
Divine  Wisdom,  whose  ways  are  the  only  paths  of 
pleasantness  and  peace  in  the  true  sense,  says  before 
all  else  that  we  should  cultivate  the  divine  principle  of 
our  humanity;  to  do  this  successfully  many  teachers 


18 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


have  insisted  we  must  wage  strenuous  and  incessant 
warfare  against  the  lower  appetites.  The  most  enlight- 
ened teachers  in  their  most  luminous  moods  have,  how- 
ever, always  insisted  upon  the  culture  of  the  higher 
principle,  saying  and  thinking  but  very  little  of  the 
lower,  and  it  is  at  this  point  that  Theosophy  introduces 
to  us  a true  basis  and  right  method  of  education.  Dr. 
J.  R.  Buchanan,  a renowned  anthropologist,  now  resi- 
dent in  Boston,  in  his  admirable  work  ^‘The  New  Edu- 
cation,” very  wisely  places  the  higher  education,  i.e. 
moral  and  spiritual  culture,  in  the  front  rank,  giving 
a secondary  place  to  what  is  simply  educational  and 
mechanical.  Herbert  Spencer  assigns  to  the  higher 
faculties  about  equal  prominence.  Both  these  able  and 
distinguished  men  therefore  testify  to  the  necessity  for 
cultivating  the  interior  or  sublimer  nature  as  the  para- 
mount duty  of  man. 

Now  it  is  quite  possible  to  use  such  words  or  terms 
as  self-sacrifice,  abnegation,  surrender,  denial,  mortifica- 
tion, etc.,  far  too  often.  The  painful  insistance  with 
which  many  people  of  the  best  intentions  dwell  upon 
these  gloomy  terms,  makes  us  long  to  give  them  Watts’ 
exquisite  and  truthful  couplet,  — 

“ Religion  never  was  designed 
To  make  our  pleasures  less,”  — 

as  a formula  for  daily  and  thrice  daily  use ; and  to 
those  who  incline  too  strongly  to  certain  ritualistic 
observances  of  the  ancient  Yoga  type,  other  equally 
well-known  and  valuable  words  of  the  same  author  may 
be  aptly  applied. 


LECTURE  I. 


19 


“ For  Satan  finds  some  mischief  still 
For  idle  hands  to  do.” 

No  tendency  can  be  sadder,  no  sophistry  more  specious 
and  dangerous,  than  such  teaching  as  throws  the  mind  in 
upon  itself,  to  brood  over  its  own  weaknesses  and  taint. 

Children  are  far  too  frequently  brought  up  in  idle- 
ness, and  thus  led  into  temptation  by  their  parents  and 
teachers,  instead  of  from  evil,  by  reason  of  the  dark 
and  hateful  pessimism  which  teaches  so  much  concern- 
ing original  sin  and  the  innate  wickedness  of  human 
nature,  that  the  very  effort  to  stifle  error  and  resist  the 
devil  gives  power  to  the  lowest  impulses.  The  history 
of  religious  fanaticism  furnishes  abundant  illustration 
of  this  ever-recurring  fact  in  human  experience.  Many 
and  many  have  been  the  men  and  women  who  have 
sought  refuge  from  the  devil  (their  own  lower  nature 
and  what  it  attracts  and  affiliates  with)  in  some  monas- 
tery or  convent,  and  there  they  have  had  a far  harder 
fight  with  the  adversary  than  they  would  have  had,  had 
they  remained  outside  the  bars  and  done  their  w^ork  in 
the  world.  Some  verses  from  Keble’s  ^‘Christian  Year,” 
exactly  apply  to  such  erroneous  judgments.  That 
healthy,  vigorous  English  churchman  sings : — 

‘‘We  need  not  bid  for  convent  cell 
Our  kindred  and  our  homes  farewell, 

Nor  strive  to  wind  ourselves  too  high 
For  mortal  man  beneath  the  sky. 

The  common  round,  the  trivial  task, 

Will  furnish  all  we  need  to  ask,  — 

Room  to  deny  ourselves ; a road 
To  bring  us  daily  nearer  God.” 


20 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


But  it  may  be  urged  in  reply  to  this  summarizing, 
Keble  was  speaking  for  the  rule,  not  for  the  exception, 
and  we  who  seek  special  communion  with  the  divine  in 
sacred  solitude  are  part  of  the  exception  to  the  general 
rule.  If  Keble  marks  out  the  way  of  the  command- 
ments for  the  many,  is  there  not  a way  of  counsels  also 
for  the  few,  of  which  he  says  nothing?  The  reply  to 
this  kind  of  reasoning  is,  that  the  very  people  who  are 
most  unusually  anxious  to  escape  the  ordinary  path  of 
duty  are  those  who  are  afraid  of  its  difficulties  and 
temptations,  and  whose  motive  in  seeking  out  a special 
road  is  that  they  may  escape  ordinary  trials.  These 
are  least  of  all  prepared  to  tread  a higher,  steeper,  more 
difficult  way.  They  are  like  the  boys  who  want  the 
higher  mathematics  before  they  have  mastered  simple 
fractions.  There  is  a motive,  but  only  one,  which  can 
make  a career  of  extraordinary  isolation  safe  for  any 
one,  and  that  motive  is  the  highest  conceivable  one  by 
which  any  human  being  can  be  actuated,  viz.,  a supreme 
desire  to  be  of  the  greatest  possible  service  to  others, 
quite  regardless  of  any  happiness  or  profit  which  may 
accrue  to  oneself  by  acting  thus  unselfishly.  Persons 
engaged  in  spiritual  healing,  who  are  more  than  usually 
disinterested  in  the  performance  of  their  work,  under- 
stand, no  doubt,  what  we  mean  by  going  out  of  the 
world  for  the  purpose  of  working  most  efficiently  for 
it  and  in  it.  Such  persons  can  safely  trust  themselves 
out  of  the  beaten  track  where  the  throng  travels,  but 
for  the  bulk  of  mankind  ‘‘  Go  home  ” is  a more  appli- 
cable gospel  saying  than  ‘‘  Forsake  all  and  follow  me,” 
though  the  spirit  of  the  two  is  identical. 


LECTURE  I. 


21 


Theosophy,  as  a practical  guide  of  life,  a universal 
religion,  is  utterly  non-partisan  and  non-sectarian ; tow- 
ering above  Paine’s  immortal  words,  “ The  world  is  my 
country,”  it  places  the  motto  of  the  Home  College  of 
Spiritual  Science  in  San  Francisco,  The  Universe  is 
our  Home.”  In  that  sentence  the  idea  of  universal 
brotherhood  is  accurately  stated. 


LECTURE  II. 


THE  TEACHINGS  OF  THEOSOPHY,  AS  PROMULGATED 

BY  THE  THEOSOPHICAL  SOCIETY,  CONSIDERED  IN  A 

REVIEW  OF  A WIDELY  CIRCULATING  PAMPHLET. 

In  our  first  article  of  this  series  we  made  no  effort 
to  do  more  than  simply  and  briefly  present,  as  tersely 
as  possible,  what  we  understand  Theosophy  to  be  and 
not  to  be ; and  while  no  society  is  in  the  least  responsi- 
ble for  anything  we  write  or  say,  our  utterances  being 
entirely  untrammelled  and  in  no  sense  ex  officio^  we 
still  desire  to  pay  to  the  Theosophical  Society  a proper 
tribute  of  polite  recognition.  By  such  recognition  we 
neither  pledge  ourselves  or  others  to  an  indorsement 
of  the  theories  entertained  in  the  documents  we  refer 
to.  All  our  aim  is  to  let  our  readers  know  for  them- 
selves just  what  the  Theosophical  Society  is  publishing, 
so  that  when  statements  of  an  injurious  and  misleading 
character  are  made  the  answer  may  be  at  once  forth- 
coming. No  society  is  infallible,  and  to  expect  infalli- 
bility at  the  hands  of  the  members  of  any  organization 
is  preposterous ; and,  moreover,  what  is  most  important 
for  all  to  realize  is,  that  truth  is  its  own  exponent  and 
defendant.  Weak  and  bitter  censuring  of  individuals 
is  as  ridiculous  as  profane,  and  only  when  the  public 
mind  is  superior  to  being  moved  by  base  insinuations 


LECTURE  II. 


23 


or  open  accusations  against  individuals,  will  ideas  have 
a chance  to  present  themselves  and  be  fairly  discussed 
in  open  court.  Personalities  will  not  enter  into  this 
work,  — at  all  events  no  offensive  personalities  will  be 
permitted ; and  though  in  our  journal.  The  Problem  of 
Life^  we  may  sometimes  be  compelled  to  answer  attacks 
made  by  individuals  upon  individuals,  our  answering 
policy  will  be  to  present  ideas  and  statements  for  what 
they  are  worth,  without  regarding  the  source  whence 
they  emanated,  which  frequently,  in  the  case  of  the 
noblest  things  ever  written,  is  historically  ambiguous. 

Our  present  effort  is  an  attempt  to  review,  and  ex- 
pound to  some  extent,  a circular  issued  some  time  ago 
for  the  purpose  of  assimilating  the  popular  mind  with 
some  of  the  most  generally  accepted  conclusions  of 
Theosophists.  It  is  entitled,  ‘‘An  Epitome  of  Theoso- 
phy.” As  we  cannot  condense  or  abbreviate  its  state- 
ments without  beclouding  some  of  the  ideas,  we  herewith 
present  the  distinctly  doctrinal  portion  of  it  to  our 
readers,  feeling  certain  it  will  instruct  and  interest  all 
of  them:  — 

Theosophy,  the  Wisdom-Religion,  has  existed  from  immemorial 
time.  It  offers  us  a theory  of  nature  and  of  life  which  is  founded 
upon  knowledge  acquired  by  the  Sages  of  the  past,  more  especially 
those  of  the  East ; and  its  higher  students  claim  that  this  knowl- 
edge is  not  something  imagined  or  inferred,  but  that  it  is  seen  and 
known  by  those  who  are  willing  to  comply  with  the  conditions. 
Some  of  its  fundamental  propositions  are  : — 

1.  That  the  spirit  in  man  is  the  only  real  and  permanent  part  of 
his  being;  the  rest  of  his  nature  being^ariously  compounded, 
and  decay  being  incident  to  all  composite  things,  everything 
in  man  but  his  spirit  is  impermaiient.^ 


24 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


Further,  that  the  universe  being  one  thing  and  not  diverse, 
and  everything  within  it  being  connected  with  the  whole  and 
with  every  other,  of  which  upon  the  upper  plane  above  re- 
ferred to  there  is  a perfect  knowledge,  no  act  or  thought 
occurs  without  each  portion  of  the  great  whole  perceiving 
and  noting  it.  Hence  all  are  inseparably  bound  together  by 
the  tie  of  Brotherhood. 

2.  That  below  the  spirit  and  above  the  intellect  is  a plane  of  con- 

sciousness in  which  experiences  are  noted,  commonly  called 
man’s  “ spiritual  nature  ” ; this  is  as  susceptible  of  culture  as 
his  body  or  his  intellect. 

3.  That  this  spiritual  culture  is  only  attainable  as  the  grosser 

interests,  passions,  and  demands  of  the  flesh  are  subordi- 
nated to  the  interests,  aspirations,  and  needs  of  the  higher 
nature ; and  that  this  is  a matter  of  both  system  and  estab- 
lished law. 

4.  That  men  thus  systematically  trained  attain  to  clear  insight 

into  the  immaterial,  spiritual  world,  their  interior  faculties 
apprehending  Truth  as  immediately  and  readily  as  physical 
faculties  grasp  the  things  of  sense,  or  mental  faculties  those 
of  reason ; and  hence  that  their  testimony  to  such  Truth  is 
as  trustworthy  as  is  that  of  scientists  or  philosophers  to  truth 
in  their  respective  fields. 

5.  That  in  the  course  of  this  spiritual  training  such  men  acquire 

perception  of  and  control  over  various  forces  in  Nature 
unknown  to  others,  and  thus  are  able  to  perform  works 
usually  called  ‘‘  miraculous,”  though  really  but  the  result  of 
larger  knowledge  of  natural  law. 

6.  That  their  testimony  as  to  super-sensuous  truth,  verified  by 

their  possession  of  such  powers,  challenges  candid  examina- 
tion from  every  religious  mind. 

Turning  now  to  the  system  expounded  by  these  Sages,  we  find 
as  its  main  points  : — 

1.  An  account  of  cosmogony,  the  past  and  future  of  this  earth  and 
other  planets,  the  evolution  of  life  through  mineral,  vegetable, 
animal,  and  human  forms. 


LECTURE  II. 


25 


2.  That  the  affairs  of  this  world  and  its  people  are  subject  to 

cyclic  laws,  and  that  during  any  one  cycle  the  rate  or  quality 
of  progress  appertaining  to  a different  cycle  is  not  possible. 

3.  The  existence  of  a universally  diffused  and  highly  ethereal  me- 

dium, called  the  Astral  Light  ’’  or  Akasa,'’  which  is  the 
repository  of  all  past,  present,  and  future  events,  and  which 
records  the  effects  of  spiritual  causes  and  of  all  acts  and 
thoughts  from  the  direction  of  either  spirit  or  matter.  It 
may  be  called  the  Book  of  the  Recording  Angel. 

4.  The  origin,  history,  development,  and  destiny  of  mankind. 

Upon  the  subject  of  Man  it  teaches  : — 

1.  That  each  spirit  is  a manifestation  of  the  One  Spirit,  and  thus 

a part  of  all.  It  passes  through  a series  of  experiences  in 
incarnation,  and  is  destined  to  ultimate  reunion  with  the 
Divine. 

2.  That  this  incarnation  is  not  single  but  repeated,  each  individ- 

uality becoming  re-embodied  during  numerous  existences  in 
successive  races  and  planets,  and  accumulating  the  expe- 
riences of  each  incarnation  towards  its  perfection. 

3.  That  between  adjacent  incarnations,  after  grosser  elements  are 

first  purged  away,  comes  a period  of  comparative  rest  and 
refreshment,  the  spirit  being  therein  prepared  for  its  next 
advent  into  material  life. 

4.  That  the  nature  of  each  incarnation  depends  upon  the  merit 

and  demerit  of  the  previous  life  or  lives,  upon  the  way  in 
which  the  man  has  lived  and  thought ; and  that  this  law  is 
inflexible  and  wholly  just. 

5.  That  ‘‘Karma,’’  — a term  signifying  two  things,  the  law  of 

ethical  causation  (Whatsoever  a man  soweth,  that  shall  he 
also  reap),  and  the  balance  or  excess  of  merit  or  demerit 
in  any  individual,  determines  also  the  main  experiences  of 
joy  and  sorrow  in  each  incarnation,  so  that  what  men  call 
“ luck  ” is  in  reality  “ desert,”  — desert  acquired  in  past 
existence. 

6.  That  the  process  of  evolution  up  to  reunion  with  the  Divine, 

contemplates  successive  elevations  from  rank  to  rank  of 


26 


STUDIES  IK  THEOSOPHY. 


power  and  usefulness,  the  most  exalted  beings  still  in  the 
flesh  being  known  as  Sages,  Rishees,  Brothers,  Masters,  their 
great  function  being  the  preservation  at  all  times,  and,  when 
cyclic  laws  permit,  the  extension,  of  spiritual  knowledge  and 
influence  among  humanity. 

7.  That  when  union  with  the  Divine  is  effected,  all  the  events  and 
experiences  of  each  incarnation  are  known. 

As  to  the  process  of  spiritual  development  it  teaches  : — 

1.  That  the  essence  of  the  process  lies  in  the  securing  of  supremacy 

to  the  highest,  the  spiritual,  element  of  man’s  nature. 

2.  That  this  is  obtained  along  four  lines,  among  others, — 

(a)  The  eradication  of  selfishness  in  all  forms,  and  the  culti- 
vation of  broad,  generous  sympathy  in  and  effort  for  the 
good  of  others. 

(h)  The  cultivation  of  the  inner,  spiritual  man  by  meditation, 
communion  with  the  Divine,  and  exercise. 

(c)  The  control  of  fleshly  appetites  and  desires,  all  lower,  ma- 
terial interests  being  deliberately  subordinated  to  the 
behests  of  the  spirit. 

{d)  The  careful  performance  of  every  duty  belonging  to  one’s 
station  in  life,  without  desire  for  reward,  leaving  results 
to  Divine  law. 

3.  That  while  the  above  is  incumbent  on  and  practicable  by  all 

religiously  disposed  men,  a yet  higher  plane  of  spiritual 
attainment  is  conditioned  upon  a specific  course  of  training, 
physical,  intellectual,  and  spiritual,  by  which  the  internal 
faculties  are  first  aroused  and  then  developed. 

4.  That  an  extension  of  this  process  is  reached  in  Adeptship,  an 

exalted  stage,  attained  by  laborious  self-discipline  and  hard- 
ship, protracted  through  possibly  many  incarnations,  and 
with  many  degrees  of  initiation  and  preferment,  beyond 
which  are  yet  other  stages  ever  approaching  the  Divine. 

As  to  the  rationale  of  spiritual  development  it  asserts : — 

1.  That  the  process  is  entirely  within  the  individual  himself,  the 
motive,  the  effort,  the  result  being  distinctly  personal. 


LECTURE  II. 


27 


2.  That,  however  personal  and  interior,  this  process  is  not  unaided, 
being  possible,  in  fact,  only  through  close  communion  with 
the  Supreme  Source  of  all  strength. 

As  to  the  degree  of  advancement  in  incarnations  it  holds : — 

1.  That  even  a mere  intellectual  acquaintance  with  Theosophic 

truth  has  great  value  in  fitting  the  individual  for  a step 
upwards  in  his  next  earth-life,  as  it  gives  an  impulse  in  that 
direction . 

2.  That  still  more  is  gained  by  a career  of  duty,  piety,  and 

beneficence. 

3.  That  a still  greater  advance  is  attained  by  the  attentive  and  de- 

voted use  of  the  means  to  spiritual  culture  heretofore  stated. 

It  may  be  added  that  Theosophy  is  the  only  system  of  religion 
and  philosophy  which  gives  satisfactory  explanation  of  such  prob- 
lems as  these : — 

1.  The  object,  use,  and  inhabitation  of  other  planets  than  this 

earth. 

2.  The  geological  cataclysms  of  earth ; the  frequent  absence  of 

intermediate  types  in  its  fauna ; the  occurrence  of  architec- 
tural and  other  relics  of  races  now  lost,  and  as  to  which 
ordinary  science  has  nothing  but  vain  conjecture ; the  nature 
of  extinct  civilizations  and  the  causes  of  their  extinction ; 
the  persistence  of  savagery  and  the  unequal  development  of 
existing  civilization ; the  differences,  physical  and  internal, 
between  the  various  races  of  men ; the  line  of  future  devel- 
opment. 

3.  The  contrasts  and  unisons  of  the  world’s  faiths,  and  the  com- 

mon foundation  underlying  them  all. 

4.  The  existence  of  evil,  of  suffering,  and  of  sorrow,  — a hopeless 

puzzle  to  the  mere  philanthropist  or  theologian. 

5.  The  inequalities  in  social  condition  and  privilege ; the  sharp 

contrasts  between  wealth  and  poverty,  intelligence  and  stu- 
pidity, culture  and  ignorance,  virtue  and  vileness;  the 
appearance  of  men  of  genius  in  families  destitute  of  it,  as 
well  as  other  facts  in  conflict  with  the  law  of  heredity ; the 


28 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


frequent  cases  of  unfitness  of  environment  around  individ- 
uals, so  sore  as  to  embitter  disposition,  hamper  aspiration, 
and  paralyze  endeavor ; the  violent  antithesis  between  char- 
acter and  condition  ; the  occurrence  of  accident,  misfortune, 
and  untimely  death  ; — all  of  them  problems  solvable  only 
by  either  the  conventional  theory  of  Divine  caprice  or  the 
Theosophic  doctrines  of  Karma  and  Re-incarnation. 

6.  The  possession  by  individuals  of  psychic  powers,  — clairvoy- 

ance, clair  audience,  etc.,  as  well  as  the  phenomena  of 
psychometry  and  statuvolism. 

7.  The  true  nature  of  genuine  phenomena  in  Spiritualism,  and  the 

proper  antidote  to  superstition  and  to  exaggerated  expecta- 
tion. 

8.  The  failure  of  conventional  religions  to  greatly  extend  their 

areas,  reform  abuses,  reorganize  society,  expand  the  idea  of 
brotherhood,  abate  discontent,  diminish  crime,  and  elevate 
humanity ; and  an  apparent  inadequacy  to  realize  in  indi- 
vidual lives  the  ideal  they  professedly  uphold. 

The  above  is  a sketch  of  the  main  features  of  Theosophy,  the 
Wisdom-Religion . Its  details  are  to  be  found  in  the  rapidly  grow- 
ing literature  upon  the  subject. 

The  Theosophical  Society  is  an  association  formed  in  1875  with 
three  aims,  — to  be  the  nucleus  of  a Universal  Brotherhood ; to  pro- 
mote the  study  of  Aryan  and  other  Eastern  literatures,  religions, 
and  sciences ; to  investigate  unexplained  laws  of  nature  and  the 
psychical  powers  latent  in  man.  Adhesion  to  the  first  only  is 

A PREREQUISITE  TO  MEMBERSHIP,  THE  OTHERS  BEING  OPTIONAL. 

The  Society  represents  no  particular  creed,  is  entirely  unsectarian, 
and  includes  professors  of  all  faiths,  only  exacting  from  each  mem- 
ber that  toleration  of  the  beliefs  of  others  which  he  desires  them 
to  exhibit  towards  his  own. 

After  reading  this  somewhat  elaborate  enumeration 
of  commonly  accepted  beliefs  among  Theosophists,  the 
liberal-minded  reader  must  be  refreshed  and  delighted 
with  the  closing  extract  we  have  given,  and  especially 


LECTUBE  II. 


29 


with  the  clause  we  have  italicized ; for,  did  the  Theo- 
sophical  Society  demand  adhesion  to  all  the  points  of 
the  circular,  it  would  necessarily  bar  out  many  of  the 
very  most  desirable  persons  who  might  otherwise  seek 
admission  to  it.  We  must  never  forget  that  between 
the  one  essential  dogma  of  universal  hrotherhoody  and 
the  almost  innumerable  tentative  hypotheses  put  for- 
ward in  the  circulgir,  there  is  no  necessary  ground  of 
common  consent.  For  example,  we  can  hardly  see  how 
any  Nationalist,  or  indeed  any  person  admiring  the 
views  put  forward  by  Edward  Bellamy  in  ‘‘Looking 
Backward,”  can  possibly  dissent  from  the  obligatory 
article  in  the  creed  of  Theosophy.  We  can  at  the  same 
time  most  fully  sympathize  with  dissenters  from  much 
that  is  contained  in  the  middle  of  the  circular ; but 
on  critical  examination  we  are  likely  to  discover  that 
our  only  valid  objection  to  some  points  in  the  cir- 
cular is  that  they  are  not  sufficiently  demonstrated 
by  human  experience ; that  they  are  speculative  rather 
than  practical,  or  that  we  do  not  fully  understand 
them. 

At  the  outset  of  this  “ Epitome  ” we  are  told  that 
Theosophy  or  Wisdom-Religion  is  of  unknown  age,  and 
that  it  offers  us  a theory  of  life  founded  upon  knowl- 
edge acquired  by  ancient  sages  of  the  Orient.  This 
claim  should  certainly  be  substantiated  before  any  one 
is  expected  to  indorse  it,  and  it  will  be  our  object  in 
this  volume  to  consult  the  records  of  the  ancient  East, 
to  discover  what  grounds  we  have  for  admitting  Orien- 
tal religions  to  the  category  of  repositories  of  divine 
wisdom. 


30 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


First  and  foremost,  in  all  our  researches  we  must  ever 
place  Man  himself.  Anthropology  is  the  king  of  sciences 
if  theology  is  their  queen ; and  so  inseparably  united 
are  anthropology  and  theology  that  the  one  is  practi- 
cally impossible  without  the  other.  In  some  of  his  ser- 
mons Henry  Ward  Beecher  has  said  that  in  his  opinion 
the  creeds  of  Christendom  began  at  the  wrong  end; 
they  should  have  commenced  with  man  and  worked 
up  to  God ; instead  of  that  they  began  with  God  and 
worked  down  to  man.  When  Beecher  made  such  state- 
ments his  temper  of  thought  was  distinctly  Aryan,  and 
in  a sense  therefore  anti-Semitic ; while  the  creed- 
makers  were  intensely  Semitic  and  thus  in  a sense  anti- 
Aryan,  though  Semiticism  is  not  necessarily  opposed  to 
Aryanism,  or  vice  versa. 

The  Aryan  race  contemplates  the  external  universe, 
and,  finding  nature,  seeks  to  discover  God  through 
nature  ; the  Semitic  peoples,  on  the  contrary,  apprehend 
Deity  first  of  all  and  then  account  for  the  objective  uni- 
verse by  a system  of  outward  reasoning.  We  find  to- 
day in  the  Western  world  a large  preponderance  of  the 
Aryan  type  and  habit,  which  is  exactly  the  type  and 
habit  of  physical  scientists  and  agnostic  philosophers, 
also  of  every  professed  Spiritualist  who  requires  exter- 
nal phenomena  to  convince  him,  and  rests  his  assurance 
of  immortality  on  visual  and  aural  demonstrations  of 
psychic  power.  But  it  may  readily  be  asked  if  the 
Aryan  method  is  from  without  to  within,  while  the 
Semitic  is  from  within  to  without,  how  can  a Theosophi- 
cal  society  ever  be  Aryan  ? The  answer  is  simply  to 
this  effect : the  very  persons  who  most  need  to  study 


LECTURE  II. 


31 


literature  and  to  investigate  singular  phenomena  are  of 
the  Aryan  type ; the  truly  developed  Semitic  is  intui- 
tive, not  rationalistic,  and  being  satisfied  to  the  point 
of  positive  and  full  conviction  through  the  agency  of 
inward  testimony,  needs  no  external  help  such  as  read- 
ing and  phenomena ^pply.  Both  types  can  make  good 
Theosophists,  but  they  rarely  coalesce  in  outward  meth- 
ods and  seldom  work  very  well  together. 

Theosophical  literature  is  necessarily  largely  of  an 
argumentative  character,  as  the  great  bulk  of  readers 
the  world  over  is  composed  of  people  who  rely  more 
on  intellect  than  intuition.  The  most  intuitive  are 
rarely  book- worms.  In  ancient  days,  in  Israel,  when  there 
was  open  vision,”  when  prophets  were  abundant,  and 
the  gift  of  seership  carefully  nurtured  in  the  young,  very 
little  value,  comparatively  speaking,  was  placed  on  sa- 
cred manuscripts  or  the  written  law.  When  Solomon’s 
Temple  was  in  all  its  splendor  and  the  Hebrew  faith 
shone  at  its  brightest,  the  people  depended  upon  the 
living  voice  of  the  prophet  far  more  than  on  the  records 
of  a more  spiritual  age  ; for  in  the  days  of  spiritual  dis- 
pensation the  oracle  was  alive  and  accessible.  After  a 
time,  largely  through  the  materiality  of  the  affections 
of  the  people,  prophets  became  fewer,  the  voice  of  the 
living  spirit  waxed  fainter  and  ever  fainter,  till  after  a 
while  not  only  the  Torah^  or  written  law,  but  the  Talmud 
Midrash  and  a host  of  other  rabbinical  commentaries 
which  exalted  the  Levitical  to  the  level  of  the  Mosaic 
law,  were  venerated  by  the  multitude  almost  as  highly 
as  the  Decalogue ; until  after  a while  the  law  and  the 
testimony  were  looked  to  as  final  authorities  from  whose 


32 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


decision  there  must  be  no  appeal.  Then  began  the  age 
of  spiritual  decadence  for  the  Hebrew  race,  and  the 
substitution  of  books  for  living  inspiration.  Precisely 
the  same  error  has  been  fallen  into  by  the  Hindu  race, 
who  from  being  at  one  time  the  most  enlightened  among 
all  the  people  on  the  earth,  have  become  in  many  re- 
spects painfully  degraded,  though  the  author  of  this 
volume  distinctly  refuses  credence  to  the  sensational 
and  exaggerated  accounts  of  Hindoo  degradation,  gotten 
up  by  sensationalists  with  a view  to  exalting  the  Chris- 
tian religion  and  Western  institutions  at  the  expense  of 
justice  to  India  and  her  native  population. 

But  to  return  to  prophecy  and  writings.  Prophecy 
is  incapable  of  long  continuance  when  prophets  are 
persecuted  persistently  by  people  who  will  not  hear  the 
message  they  have  to  deliver ; i.e.  prophecy  in  public 
soon  ceases.  While  the  race  of  prophets  never  becomes 
extinct,  when  these  illumined  ones  are  driven  from  the 
surface  of  society  through  the  belligerent  force  of  brutal 
and  determined  persecution,  they  betake  themselves  to 
solitudes  where  they  still  carry  on  a work  for  humanity. 
The  nature  of  such  work  ought  to  be  appreciated  by 
all  Spiritualists,  Mental  Healers,  and  those  in  general 
who  attribute  a potency  to  silent,  invisible  forces  not 
v'  credited  to  such  forces  by  the  unspiritual,  material 
mind,  which  laughs  at  everything  not  evident  to  physi- 
cal sense.  Whenever  a period  of  re-awakened  interest 
in  spiritual  truth  invites  the  prophetic  mind  to  emerge 
from  privacy,  and  proclaim  openly  the  knowledge  long 
concealed,  Ave  hear  of  a revival  of  all  kinds  of  psychic 
gifts ; and  while  at  such  periods  a good  deal  of  impurity 


LECTURE  II. 


33 


comes  to  the  surface,  this  passes  off  as  scum  from  the 
mind  of  society,  while  beneath  this  external  rubbish  is 
discovered  genuine  knowledge  and  love  of  truth. 

The  Israelites  and  the  Aryans  have  alike,  through 
long  periods  of  oVitward  darkness,  never  lost  sight  of 
the  lamp  of  divine  wisdom  burning  within,  though  this 
pure  and  holy  light  has  been  for  long  periods  almost 
entirely  concealed  from  the  masses.  In  this  brighter 
and  freer  age  the  flames  are  beginning  to  leap  high  once 
more  upon  the  altars  of  humanity,  and  the  new  order 
will  not  be  fully  inaugurated  without  severe  conflict 
with  the  ‘‘  powers  of  darkness.”  The  light  now  break- 
ing is  clearly  destined  to  illumine  a large  portion  of 
the  earth  within  the  next  few  years,  so  as  to  completely 
change  the  social  and  religious  aspects  of  affairs  in  the 
now  advancing  regions  of  the  earth,  while  to  those  por- 
tions of  the  world  not  prepared  for  the  full  blaze  of  this 
re-illumination  a certain  measure  of  light  will  also  be 
accorded,  sufficient  at  least  to  greatly  ameliorate  the 
condition  of  the  teeming  multitudes  now  subject  to 
tyrannical  misrule.  Theosophy  strikes  out  for  vital 
and  permanent  reform  by  laying  the  axe  at  the  root 
of  the  tree  to  be  destroyed,  instead  of  lopping  off  the 
withering  branches,  or  here  and  there  cutting  off  a 
vigorous  limb.  The  affections  of  humanity  must  be 
appealed  to,  or  there  can  be  no  reformation  which  will 
endure.  The  history  of  every  great  and  successful 
movement  clearly  demonstrates  this  proposition.  When 
Luther  and  his  coadjutors  effected  a complete  change 
in  the  attitude  of  a large  part  of  Europe  to  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  in  the  sixteenth  century,  tlie  great 


34 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


success  of  their  work  depended  upon  the  readiness  of 
the  popular  mind  to  accept  the  proposed  changes  in 
ecclesiastical  polity,  as  well  as  to  accept  many  modi- 
fications of  doctrine.  The  Reformation  was  rendered 
possible  only  through  the  disaffection  previously  in  the 
minds  of  the  people  toward  the  established  religious 
hierarchy;  and  this  disaffection  was  brought  about 
through  the  ambitious  worldliness  of  the  Church  of- 
Scials  themselves.  Had  popes,  cardinals,  prelates,  and 
all  under  them  fulfilled  the  spiritual  law,  and  concerned 
themselves  with  the  peaceful  establishment  and  main- 
tenance of  a heavenly  kingdom  on  earth,  there  could 
have  been  no  butchery  in  the  name  of  religion.  To 
justify  persecution  is  insane ; to  attribute  it  to-  religious 
conviction  is  a great  mistake.  Persecutors  are  at  the 
start  ambitious  individuals  thirsting  for  material  do- 
minion, and,  moreover,  persons  who  will  not  hesitate, 
under  pressure  of  seeming  necessity,  to  use  religion  as 
a cloak  for  licentiousness. 

Religion  to-day  is  again  under  a cloud  all  over  the 
world,  entirely  owing  to  the  prelatical  ambition  which 
has  been  substituted  for  the  meek  and  gentle  temper 
of  all  the  world’s  greatest  seers  and  sages.  To  con- 
trast Jesus  with  Gautama  is  but  to  compare  two  great 
human  ideals  and  find  them  one ; for  deep  in  the  heart 
of  humanity  a deep  and  tender  love  of  sweet  and  gentle 
righteousness  is  ever  to  be  found.  Now  this  sweet 
gentleness  which  shines  so  conspicuously  in  the  highest 
human  ideals,  is  by  no  means  the  accompaniment  of 
meek  submissiveness  to  error.  No  man  can  be  so  brave 
as  a true  gentleman;  but  the  difference  between  the 


X.ECTUEE  II. 


35 


gentleman  and  the  boor  is  properly  the  difference  be- 
tween homo  and  vir^  the  former  term  standing  in  old 
Latin  for  an  ordinary  animal-fighting  man,  the  latter 
for  a superior  being  in  whom  the  distinctively  super- 
animal dispositions  of  manhood  are  in  the  ascendency. 
Bulwer  Lytton,  in  his  truly  theosophical  romance,  The 
Coming  Race,”  aptly  styles  the  marvellous  people  whom 
he  describes  Vril-Ya^  while  the  vril  they  gather  from 
all  nature  and  control  perfectly  is  the  universal  ether, 
akasa^  or  astral  force  so  often  spoken  of  by  students  of 
the  occult  sciences.  This  subtle,  all-pervading  force  is  ^ 
amenable  to  the  control  of  a high  order  of  intelligence 
only,  and  while  universally  present  in  nature,  cannot 
be  manipulated  and  utilized  except  by  persons  in  whom 
the  lower  principle  (homo')  is  subservient  to  the  higher 
principle  (vir).  Thus,  while  a man  who  has  cultivated 
nothing  but  his  animal  nature  (anima  hruta)  is  simply 
a biped  in  human  shape,  and  quite  at  the  mercy  of 
savage  creatures  and  the  elements,  one  who  has  un- 
folded to  some  degree  his  intellectual  or  human  self, 
which  makes  him  man  instead  of  brute,  though  pos- 
sessed thereby  of  ability  beyond  the  savage,  is  still  quite 
without  the  superlative  power  of  those  in  whom  the 
spiritual  soul  (anima  divina)  is  liberated  and  expressed. 
Such  words  as  virile  and  virility  are  shamefully  mis- 
applied in  popular  usage,  as  they  clearly  spring  from 
the  root  word  vir^  which  the  Latins  never  used  except 
in  connection  with  quite  super-animal,  and  properly 
with  super-intellectual  attainments.  Man,  to  be  able 
to  control  any  element  outside  his  own  personality, 
must  first  have  brought  that  element  into  obedience 


36 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


to  its  rightful  superior,  within  the  economy  of  his 
own  nature.  This  open  secret,  as  it  may  be  termed, 
considering  it  is  a secret  from  the  multitude,  and  yet 
free  to  all  who  are  desirous  of  learning  how  to  live 
truly  and  healthily,  will  explain  the  just  cause  of  rela- 
tive successes  and  failures  in  all  pursuits  and  enter- 
prises where  something  more- than  animal  vigor  and 
ordinary  intelligence  are  needed  to  produce  results. 

Theosophical  teachings  are  ignorantly  scorned  by 
many  people  who  are  every  day  of  their  existence  con- 
fronted with  difficult  problems  Theosophy  alone  can 
solve.  We  can  only  pity  and  seek  to  enlighten,  if  but 
a little,  those  prejudiced  ones  among  Spiritualists  and 
Mental  Healers  alike,  who  are  subject  to  every  kind  of 
difficulty  and  unpleasant  experience  through  lack  of  a 
better  comprehension  of  the  forces  they  are  trying  to 
govern,  but  which  in  their  present  state  of  incapable 
ignorance  are  governing  them  and  often  making  sport 
of  them  most  mercilessly.  As  much  is  constantly  being 
said  and  written  concerning  astral  force,  astral  light, 
astral  bodies,  etc.,  let  us  go  to  our  Greek  lexicons  for  a 
definition  of  the  word  astral^  before  endeavoring  to  use 
it.  Astron  means  a star,  and  from  astron,  astral  is 
clearly  derived.  Now  the  word  astral,  which  means 
pertaining  to  the  stars,  starry,  and  starlike,  may  be 
properly  applied  to  that  force,  substance,  ether,  body 
light,  etc.,  of  which  stars  are  formed,  and  also  to  what- 
ever is  va.tQV-stellar,  or  between  stars,  and  to  that  which 
shines  like  a star.  Astral  is,  then,  a very  wide  word. 
First,  it  designates  the  inner  substance  of  the  planet 
and  the  inner  body  of  man.  In  expression  we  may 


LECTURE  II. 


37 


speak  of  three  elements, — spirit,  force,  and  matter:  the 
astral  realm  is  the  realm  of  force,  which  exists  between 
spirit  and  matter  and  is  the  bond  uniting  them.  But 
at  this  point  we  are  sure  to  be  asked  if  we  are  not  re- 
tracting many  statements  in  Spiritual  Therapeutics  ” 
and  other  of  our  works,  wherein  we  declare,  that  essen- 
tially all  is  spirit,  and  therefore  there  is  nothing  but 
spirit  in  the  permanent  life  of  man?  We  contend  that 
as  the  greater  can  always  contain  the  less,  while  the  less 
cannot  possibly  hold  the  greater,  spirit  can  include  force, 
and  force  can  include  matter.  Matter  is  but  an  emana- 
tion of  force,  a temporary  solidification  of  force,  and 
not  the  whole  of  force  at  any  time ; and  this  statement 
is,  we  contend,  acceptable  to  chemistry  which  teaches 
by  experiment  that  all  of  matter  is  resolvable  into  ether, 
while  all  of  ether  cannot  be  converted  into  solids  or 
fluids.  Spirit  is  the  cause  of  all  things,  and  itself  the 
primal  and  ultimate  No  Thmg  of  the  Mystics,  yet  is 
beyond  all  things,  and  is  the  cause  of  all.  Force  is  its 
earlier  manifestation,  matter  being  its  ultimated  expres- 
sion. 

Now  as  man  has  always  conceived  of  an  inner  and  an 
outer  body,  a b ;dy  of  force  and  a body  of  matter,  he 
has  instinctively  felt  that  the  force  body  could  travel 
from,  star  to  star,  while  the  material  body  is  confined  to 
the  earth,  held  by  the  force  of  gravity.  All  spiritual 
manifestations  of  a phenomenal  order  are  simply  exhibi- 
tions of  force  triumphing  over  matter,  and  may  be  pro- 
duced through  the  agency  of  adepts  or  magicians  (great 
or  wise  people  is  the  true  meaning  of  magicians)  either 
in  or  out  of  their  earthly  expression.  The  mistake 


38 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


made  by  uncultured  Spiritualists  is,  that  they  do  not 
recognize  the  power  of  the  adept  as  identical  with  that 
of  the  human  entity  disrobed  of  mortal  form;  but  so 
far  from  genuine  Spiritualism  and  Theosophy  conflict- 
ing at  this  point,  they  perfectly  agree,  as  Spiritualism 
teaches  most  emphatically  that  there  is  no  sudden  re- 
moval from  a state  of  moral  and  mental  impotency  on 
earth,  to  all-powerfulness  in  the  state  immediately  fol- 
lowing bodily  dissolution.  The  only  reasons  we  can 
assign  for  the  stupid  opposition  to  Theosophy  shown  by 
many  seemingly  zealous  Spiritualists,  are,  that  they  have 
not  fully  outgrown  the  dogmas  of  the  churches  they 
often  berate,  or  they  are  quite  ignorant  of  the  real 
teaching  of  Theosophy,  which  is  that  the  higher  princi- 
ple in  man  must  control  the  lower,  or  he  cannot  be  8 
wonder-worker  on  this  side  of  the  grave  or  the  other ; 
growth  alone  determining  and  regulating  his  measure 
of  power.  A very  vulgar  error  is  that  the  invisible 
world  has  some  stated  geographical  situation ; the  truth 
is  that  it  is  everywhere,  interpenetrating  every  particle 
of  seemingly  inert  matter.  A.  J.  Davis,  in  his  Stellar 
Key  to  the  Summer  Land,”  and  similar  works,  under- 
taking to  locate  heavens,  ma;f  be  correct  in  some  sense, 
though  such  works  are  apt  to  mislead  the  reader  who 
carries  to  them  a mind  filled  with  theories  of  locality. 
All  outward  conditions  are  expressions  of  interior 
states ; as  a man  thinketh  so  will  he  come  to  appear, 
gradually  if  not  instantly,  and  surely  all  students  of 
antenatal  causes  for  afflictions,  etc.,  must  get  their  eyes 
open  to  the  fact  that  mental  conditions  clearly  produce 
bodily  results. 


LECTURE  II. 


39 


Throughout  the  entire  universe  every  outward  globe 
or  physical  expression  of  an  unseen  force  is  a result  of 
some  psychical  wave  of  action,  unknown  save  to  stu- 
dents of  the  occult  (hidden  or  invisible)  forces  of  nature. 
Occult  or  astral  force  is  of  all  conceivable  grades  of 
refinement  and  density,  and  offers  precisely  the  same 
resistance  to  what  is  commonly  called  the  spiritual 
body  that  matter  offers  to  the  physical  organism. 
Theosophy  teaches  us  that  as  we,  through  purer  and 
higher  modes  of  thought  and  action,  outgrow  our  ani- 
mal propensities,  being  no  longer  governed  by  the  lower 
grades  of  invisible  forces,  we  shall  be  able  to  control 
them,  and  thus  at  length  be  able  to  demonstrate  our 
complete  victory  over  all  material  surroundings.  The 
most  exciting  portions  of  the  book  of  Daniel,  so  eagerly 
devoured  by  children,  are  profound  occult  narratives, 
and  even  if  taken  literally  are  neither  ridiculous  nor 
improbable,  as  man  can  fully  overcome  the  ferocity  of  the 
beast  and  even  the  action  of  fire.  Eventually,  through 
unfolding  of  the  higher  principle  within  us,  all  things 
shall  appear  possible  which  are  utterly  impossible  to 
our  animal,  and  also  to  our  simply  intellectual,  soul. 
Try  to  consider  the  astral  world  simply  as  the  inner 
world,  ‘‘the  soul  of  things”  approached  through  psy- 
chometry,  and  the  difficulty  will  soon  vanish  when  we 
find  the  psychic  realm  everywhere,  and  learn  that 
dominion  over  lower  grades  of  force  and  complete  con- 
quest over  matter  is  a result  attainable  only  as  we 
persistently  develop  our  higher,  and  through  so  doing 
subordinate  our  lower,  nature. 


LECTURE  III. 


THE  WORK  AND  POSSIBILITIES  OF  THE  THEOSOPHICAL 
SOCIETY  AND  ITS  BRANCHES. 

(An  address  intended  for  delivery  on  the  occasion  of  a General  Conference, 
slightly  altered  in  form  to  adapt  it  to  this  volume.) 

Every  lover  of  Theosophy,  or  the  Wisdom-Religion 
of  mankind,  must  hail  with  delight  every  indication  of 
unity  among  seekers  after  truth,  and  feel  deep  regret 
at  whatever  is  calculated  to  divide  into  groups  and 
factions,  antagonistic  the  one  to  the  other,  those  who 
are  striving  to  leave  this  world  a little  brighter  than 
they  found  it.  In  view  of  this,  does  it  not  behoove  us 
to  contend  most  earnestly  for  the  grand,  solid  basis  of 
our  sublime  universal  religion,  and  leave  as  subject  for 
speculative  inquiry  only  those  moot  questions  and  con- 
tested doctrines  over  which  so  many  honest,  good- 
meaning people  stumble  and  fall  ? Re-incarnation,  for 
instance,  is  a teaching  which  many  earnest  minds  find 
very  difficult  to  accept.  Devachan^  as  ordinarily  ex- 
plained or  not  explained,  is  another  serious  obstacle  ; 
while  astral  bodies^  shells,  the  reliquee  of  the  departed, 
etc.,  as  instrumental  in  the  production  of  alleged  spir- 
itual manifestations,  are  again  other  matters  calculated 
to  divide  rather  than  unite  seekers  after  truth. 


LECTURE  III. 


41 


Now  Theosophy  is  founded  on  a recognition  of  eter- 
nal and  essential  justice  supreme  in  the  universe.  The 
great  value  of  the  ethics  of  Theosophy  consists  in  the 
fact  that  they  do  most  emphatically  present  the  idea  of 
infinite,  undeviating  justice  to  the  mind,  and  whatever 
may  be  said  to  the  contrary  by  its  opponents,  this  much- 
vexed  question  of  repeated  embodiments  harmonizes 
exactly  with  absolute  uncompromising  equity.  But  is 
it  the  dogma  of  embodiments  or  the  principle  of  equity 
for  which  we  should  most  zealously  contend  ? Is  it  not 
quite  thinkable  that  many  persons,  while  acknowledg- 
ing the  existence  and  claim  of  equity,  do  not  see  the 
necessity  of  re-incarnation  to  indicate  and  illustrate 
supreme  justice  ? If  they  can,  or  if  they  feel  they  can, 
account  for  the  manifold  inequalities  of  this  present 
state  without  having  recourse  to  the  hypothesis  of  suc- 
cessive embodiments,  are  we  not  unwise  if  we  lay  over- 
much stress  on  that  hypothesis  ? 

We  are  never  forgetful  of  the  fact  that  brotherhood 
is  the  only  crucial  test  of  Theosophy ; still  there  are 
sometimes  persons  in  the  theosophical  camp  who  make 
re-embodiment  too  prominent.  This  charge  may  with 
all  kindliness  of  advisory  suggestion  be  preferred  per- 
haps against  Mrs.  Sinnett’s  generally  excellent  work, 
‘‘The  Purpose  of  Theosophy,”  and  other  publications 
of  similar  import  by  different  authors.  Let  all  vexed 
problems  be  submitted  for  thoughtful  consideration  to 
the  public  mind ; and  even  though  the  Oriental  Scrip- 
tures and  the  Masters  do  appear  to  teach  certain  things 
very  plainly  in  the  letter  of  their  instructions,  are  we 
always  right  in  feeling  sure  that  we  are  not  sometimes 


42 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


unwittingly  substituting  exotericism  for  esotericism  in  our 
deductions  and  avowals,  in  this  connection?  {vide  the 
introductory  chapter  of  Madame  Blavatsky’s  grandest 
and  most  recent  work,  The  Secret  Doctrine,”  wherein 
she  convicts  Mr.  Sinnett  of  falling  into  some  error  of 
this  kind,  though  with  the  best  possible  intentions,  in 
his  much  valued  work,  ‘‘Esoteric  Buddhism”).  Some 
deliverances  of  Theosophists  in  the  past  have  been  too 
acrid,  many  have  been  far  too  dogmatic.  As  we  all 
learn  by  experience,  let  us  not  regret  the  past,  but 
strive  to  profit  by  the  lessons  we  may  learn  from  its 
imperfections,  and  for  the  future  let  us  cling  more  to 
essentials  and  divide  less  on  speculative  matters. 

Another  very  important  question  is  the  avoidance  of 
personal  squabbles  and  the  disagreeable  canvassing  of 
private  reputations.  In  the  case  of  the  late  controversy 
over  the  authorship  of  “Light  on  the  Path,”  a great 
deal  of  most  unseemly  strife  has  been  ventilated  in 
public  print.  Recriminations  and  counter-recrimina- 
tions cannot  thus  see  the  light  without  imposing  on  the 
Theosophical  movement  an  onus  of  ugliness  it  has  no 
right  or  reason  to  carry.  Reprehensible  in  the  extreme 
as  the  conduct  of  the  Religio-Philosophical  Journal  of 
Chicago  has  been  in  connection  with  this  and  kindred 
subjects,  we  cannot  honestly  say  that  The  Path  or 
even  Lucifer  or  The  Theosophist  have  been  quite  free 
from  deserved  criticism  in  this  respect.  What  the 
earnest  truth-seeker  needs  is  not  a recital  of  how,  why, 
when,  and  where  parties  fall  out  and  call  each  other 
hard  names ; but  a cautious  yet  frank  presentation,  and 
as  far  as  possible  elucidation,  of  great  spiritual  and 


LECTURE  III. 


43 


psychical  problems  demanding  solution  at  the  hands  of 
all  who  are  earnestly  seeking  aid  to  walk  in  the  path  of 
genuine  spiritual  development  and  higher  mental  and 
physical  culture.  The  great  need  of  the  present  day, 
as  it  appears  to  us  at  least,  is  not  wordy  discussion 
over  obscure  mysteries,  but  practical  co-operation  to 
the  end  of  establishing  the  reign  of  righteousness  on 
earth. 

Sometimes  we  think  the  sure  though  apparently  dila- 
tory outworking  of  the  law  of  Karma  is  too  much, 
because  too  blindly,  insisted  on.  We  hear  very  fre- 
quently, indeed,  that  so-and-so  cannot  come  into  the 
light,  cannot  be  healed,  etc.,  by  reason  of  his  or  her 
Karma^  accumulated  in  previous  existences.  Without 
questioning  there  being  such  Karma^  and  without  deny- 
ing it  is  a hindrance  in  many  instances,  we  would  still 
most  particularly  urge  the  object  of  disciplinary  embod- 
iment, which  is  surely  to  vanquish  and  overcome,  not  to 
yield  or  submit  to,  refractory  Karma,  Karma  is  a per- 
sistent force  in  constant  operation.  Every  thought, 
word,  and  deed  makes  or  unmakes  Karma;  but  as  it 
is  a question  of  the  strength  of  the  effort  put  forward, 
not  the  length  of  time  consumed  in  putting  forward 
such  effort,  which  determines  its  effectiveness,  we  can- 
not be  too  urgent  in  assuring  all  who  are  in  any  meas- 
ure desirous  of  attaining  a higher  station,  that  though 
they  cannot  skip  any  of  the  rounds  in  the  ladder  of 
Progression,  they  can  accelerate  their  transit  over  them. 
The  practical  questions  of  the  day  cannot  be  settled  on 
a physical  basis ; they  must  be  dealt  with  spiritually,  or 
(satisfactorily)  not  at  all. 


44 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


The  special  object,  then,  of  organization  with  theo- 
sophical  intent  should  be  to  place  before  the  inquiring 
public  the  tenets  of  Theosophy  in  as  simple  and  prac- 
tical a manner  as  possible.  This  is,  happily,  now  being 
done,  to  some  extent  at  least,  by  the  many  excellent 
and  well-attended  open  meetings  of  the  various  lodges 
in  the  different  cities  where  such  lodges  have  been 
established.  The  membership  in  these  lodges  is  con- 
stantly increasing,  and  the  influx  of  new  members  is 
most  encouraging,  as  they  are  chiefly  persons  of  high 
mental  attainments  and  noble  moral  aspirations.  We 
could  easily  congratulate  the  Theosophical  Society  at 
large  on  what  it  has  already  accomplished  in  the  right  ‘ 
direction,  and  when  we  point  out  where  the  blunders 
have  been  made,  it  is  only  with  a view  to  their  future 
avoidance  and  present  rectification  as  far  as  possible. 
The  Theosophical  Publication  Society  has  issued  many 
excellent  pamphlets  at  a very  moderate  price,  but  to 
some  of  them  at  least  two  exceptions  may  be  taken. 
Some  are  so  extremely  transcendental,  that,  while  of 
interest  and  value  to  scholars,  they  are  quite  beyond 
the  comprehension  of  the  very  persons  whom  literary 
efforts  of  a missionary  character  are  specially  intended 
to  reach.  This  is,  however,  our  minor  objection ; our 
major  criticism  we  reserve  for  those  publications  and 
utterances  which  deal  less  fairly  with  Christianity  than 
with  Buddhism.  Now  we  know  that  as  soon  as  Chris- 
tian people  begin  to  look  into  Theosophy  they  are  apt 
to  feel  justly  offended  at  a manifest  partiality  for 
Buddha  and  relative  disparagement  of  Christ.  This 
attitude  may  be  natural  to  persons  who  have  become 


LECTURE  III. 


45 


disgusted  with  the  superficiality  and  hypocrisy,  alas ! so 
prevalent  in  Christendom,  and  who,  in  the  first  flush  of 
their  ardor  at  sight  of  the  excellences  in  Hinduism, 
hasten  to  pay  their  tribute  to  the  latter  and  expose  the 
fallacies  of  the  former.  Such  precipitation  is,  however, 
exceedingly  unwise,  as  it  does  not  bear  the  impress  of 
profound  research  or  sober  judgment,  and  inevitably 
gives  occasion  for  attack  on  Oriental  religions  of  the 
most  spiteful  and  damaging  kind.  It  is  the  purpose  of 
Theosophy  to  show  the  truth  in  all  religions,  not  to 
hold  up  one  religion  as  so  very  much  truer  than  all 
beside  it;  to  prove  how,  in  remote  lands  and  distant 
ages  widely  separated  by  space  and  time,  the  same 
pearl  of  measureless  price  has  been  discovered  by  untir- 
ing travellers  toward  the  goal  of  perfection.  Lady 
Caithness,  in  The  Mystery  of  the  Ages,”  has  contrib- 
uted to  this  benign  accomplishment  in  a queenly  man- 
ner : would  that  other  authors  had  been  equally  happy 
in  elucidating  the  theme  ! That  very  valuable  author, 
Franz  Hartmann,  in  his  “ Jehoshua,  the  Prophet  of  Naz- 
areth,” has  said  very  much  that  is  true  and  beautiful  con- 
cerning the  character  and  life  of  the  great  adept  whom 
all  Christendom  reveres,  as  a unique  master  in  wis- 
dom ; but  he  has,  in  our  judgment,  marred  and  enfee- 
bled a portion  of  his  treatise  by  putting  a very  low 
construction  on  the  cursing  of  the  barren  fig-tree,  the 
driving  of  money-changers  from  the  temple,  and  other 
similar  incidents  in  the  life  of  Jesus  as  recorded  by 
the  Evangelists,  when  a much  higher  interpretation  of 
these  incidents  would  have  been  far  more  esoteric,  prof- 
itable, and  therefore  theosophical.  Whenever  Gautama, 


46 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


the  saintly  hero,  whom  Edwin  Arnold  so  beautifully 
styles  The  Light  of  Asia,”  is  alluded  to^  no  such 
aspersions  are  cast  as  are  frequently  cast  on  Jesus ; and 
why  is  it,  if  not  because  a certain  poetical  glamour  is 
thrown  over  Buddhism  and  all  pertaining  to  it  in  the 
minds  of  Mr.  Hartmann  and  other  authors  who  adopt 
the  style  he  uses,  while  these  persons  are  by  no  means 
so  friendly  to  Christianity  ? While  very  much  of  Gerald 
Massey’s  writing  is  painfully  harsh  and  external,  he, 
notwithstanding  his  violent  prejudice  against  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  makes  many  excellent  points  when  in  his 
review  of  The  Historical  Jesus  and  the  Gnostic 
Christ,”  he  endeavors  to  refine  away  all  personal  ideas 
of  the  logos^  making  the  essential  Christ  the  highest 
element  in  man,  and  in  no  sense  an  outward  historical 
personage. 

The  personal  controversies  over  which  so  much  blood 
was  spilled  in  the  Middle  Ages,  and  which  are  the  cause 
of  so  much  waste  of  nervous  force  as  well  as  ink  and 
paper  to-day,  are  but  bubbles  on  the  surface  of  thought. 
It  is  clearly  impossible  to  either  verify  or  disprove  a 
literal  history  of  a personal  Christ  or  Buddha  in  any 
satisfactory  way.  At  the  same  time  it  is  not  impossible 
or  even  difficult  to  show  that  there  is  indeed  a light 
enlightening  every  man ; and  this  light,  though  existent 
in  all  men,  and  capable  of  expression  through  all,  has 
been  expressed  in  a marvellous  degree  by  some  few  of 
the  world’s  exceptionally  wise  and  illumined  teachers. 
The  work  of  Theosophists  in  America  and  Europe 
should  be  identical  with  what  they  are  endeavoring  to 
do  in  Asia.  Missionaries  have  been  sent  to  the  East 


LECTURE  III. 


47 


to  tell  the  Orientals  that  they  are  in  danger  of  ever- 
lasting misery  unless  they  turn  from  their  religion  and 
scripture  to  the  books  and  opinions  held  sacred  in  the 
West.  Missionary  enterprise  is  almost  as  futile  in 
India,  China,  and  Japan  as  is  the  work  of  that  most 
ineffective  organization,  The  Society  for  promoting 
Christianity  among  the  Jews,”  which  so  persistently 
asks  assistance  in  countless  churches  every  year  on 
Good  Friday.  The  real  value  of  the  theosophical 
movement  in  Asia  is,  that  it  is  helping  Asiatics  to 
understand  their  own  religion,  by  expounding  truth  to 
them  through  the  use  of  a language  and  literature 
to  which  they  are  accustomed.  In  Europe  and  America 
the  Hebrew  and  Christian  Scriptures  are  in  every  one’s 
hand;  the  Vedas  and  Puranas  are  not.  Why  not,  then, 
prove  the  identity  of  the  spirit  of  all  religion,  by  using, 
wherever  we  may  be,  the  literature  with  which  the  peo- 
ple are  familiar  ? and,  by  letting  them  see  the  identity 
of  the  revelation  made  in  both  hemispheres  help  on 
gloriously,  expeditiously,  the  realization  of  our  common 
brotherhood,  — a work  which  can  never  be  effectuated 
by  disparaging  one  scripture  to  enthrone  another  in 
popular  esteem. 

The  Bible  as  we  have  it  is  full  of  Theosophy;  so  are 
all  Oriental  scriptures.  The  same  great  truths  are 
clearly  or  obscurely  proclaimed  in  all,  according  to  the 
clearness  or  obscurity  which  marks  the  reader’s  mind. 
Mohini  M.  Chatterji,  the  young  Brahman  who  started 
out  on  a missionary  tour  through  Europe  and  America 
some  few  years  ago,  did  a grand  work  in  publishing  a 
new  translation  in  English  of  the  Bhagavad-Gita,  with 


48 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


notes  and  references  to  the  New  Testament,  in  which 
he  tells  his  Christian  readers  that  he  need  not  convert 
them,  nor  need  they  convert  him  to  a new  religion,  for 
the  faith  of  the  Orient  and  of  the  Occident  is  essen- 
tially the  same.  Theosophy  being  the  great  under- 
current of  spiritual  meaning  running  through  all  the 
great  writings  extant  all  over  the  world,  no  matter 
when,  where,  or  by  whom  originally  produced,  can  only 
be  brought  to  light  and  do  its  work  as  it  removes  the 
veil  of  the  letter  which  kills  and  gets  killed  and  exposes 
the  Spirit,  which  ever  lives  and  is  the  giver  of  immortal 
life  to  all  who  realize  its  presence  and  its  sway.  With 
this  thought  uppermost  in  our  affections  and  intellects, 
we  can  go  forth  to  spread  glad  tidings  over  all  the  earth. 

As  a further  suggestion  for  increasing  the  efficiency 
of  the  work  of  all  branches  of  the  Theosophical  Society, 
wherever  established  or  about  to  be  established,  we 
would  urge  upon  all  members  of  the  various  lodges  the 
great  desirability,  we  may  add  necessity,  of  members 
cultivating  the  society  of  each  other,  meeting  together 
as  often  as  practicable  at  each  others’  houses  where  no 
lodge-room  is  permanently  available.  At  such  meetings 
the  central  aim  should  be  to  discover  how  nearly  these 
good  people  can  come  together  in  thought  and  feeling, 
and  what  particular  spheres  of  usefulness  they  may 
individually  occupy  best.  It  is  of  little  advantage  for 
people  to  join  societies,  and  acknowledge  their  adhesion 
to  a great  bond  of  union,  if  they  do  not  embrace  and 
seek  to  create  opportunities  and  occasions  for  mutual 
converse  and  help.  The  work  of  many  a society  lan- 
guishes because  of  the  members  not  acting  in  accord- 


LECTURE  III. 


49 


ance  with  a due  recognition  of  the  tie  of  brotherhood ; 
while  much  inspiration  is  lost  by  two  or  three  fluent 
speakers  or  able  writers  being  looked  to  at  all  times, 
under  all  circumstances,  to  furnish  food  for  the  mental 
digestion  of  all  the  rest.  Timidity  and  bashfulness 
should  have  no  place  among  brothers  and  sisters ; fear 
of  criticism  or  of  being  misunderstood  should  never 
seal  the  lips  of  one  who  feels  he  has  aught  to  say  for 
the  edification  of  the  assemblage.  To  underrate  our 
powers  or  mask  our  gifts,  to  fight  off  inspirations  and 
disown  ability,  is  not  humility,  but  pride  masquerading 
as  its  opposite  virtue. 

Above  all,  in  thought,  word,  and  deed  let  us  be 
charitable  in  our  judgments,  the  one  of  the  other.  This 
grand  old  grace,  charity,  placed  by  Paul  above  faith 
and  hope,  above  prophecy,  and  tongues,  and  all  beside, 
is  the  virtue  we  so  sorely  lack  to-day.  The  absence  of 
it  from  our  midst  is  the  cause  of  the  weaknesses  and 
dissensions  among  us,  and  its  absence  among  those  who 
profess  better  things  is  really  unpardonable  as  well  as 
pitiable.  The  abnegation  of  the  lower  self,  about  which 
we  hear  and  talk  and  write  so  much,  is  impossible  to 
us  unless  we  studiously  cultivate  the  higher  self.  And 
while  the  prohibitory  form  of  some  of  the  command- 
ments which  constitute  the  decalogue  make  it  at  first 
sight  appear  that  the  highest  conception  of  the  ancient 
Israelites  was  to  refrain  from  iniquity,  we  must  not 
forget  that  the  two  great  affirmative  commands  on 
which  Jesus  declared  all  the  law  and  prophets  depend, 
are  J ewish  utterances,  taken  out  of  the  Old  Testament 
and  placed  in  the  New,  as  proof  of  the  identity  of  the 


50 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


counsels  of  Jesus  with  those  of  the  great  legislators 
and  prophets  who  preceded  him  and  lived  long  before 
his  day.  Thou  shalt  love  with  all  thy  heart  and  mind 
whatever  is  good,  practically  means  that  we  are  to  so 
cultivate  love  for  good  as  to  find  it  engrossing  our  every 
thought  and  feeling,  leaving  no  possible  room  for  its 
opposite.  Truth,  when  spoken  in  love,  is  always  pow- 
erful and  convincing.  As  it  lays  hold  upon  the  human 
intellect  and  heart  at  one  and  the  same  moment,  it 
is  both  sweet  and  reasonable  to  describe  it  in  terms 
especially  dear  to  the  friends  and  admirers  of  Matthew 
Arnold,  and  men  who,  like  him,  have  sought  to  unite 
reason  and  affection  in  all  presentations  of  truth.  How 
much  unreasonable  sweetness  and  anything  but  sweet 
rationalizing  there  is  in  modern  literature,  converse, 
and  oratory,  we  need  not  attempt  to  decide.  That 
there  is  far,  far  too  much  for  the  peace  and  safety  of 
society  and  the  effectual  spread  of  truth,  none  can  deny. 
It  being  the  special  purpose  of  Theosophy  to  present 
wisdom  lovingly,  and  to  culture  the  affections  to  love 
wisely,  no  work  is  in  reality  theosophical ; ix.  wise  in 
the  divine,  loving  sense  which  does  not  address  itself 
to  reason  and  affection  both  at  once.  Some  persons  are 
certainly  far  more  emotional  than  intellectual ; others 
again  far  more  rational  than  affectionate.  Both  classes 
are  capable  of  doing  excellent  work  for  the  general 
good,  but  the  two  are  better  united  in  one.  The  old 
words,  It  is  not  good  for  man  to  be  alone,”  recur  to 
us  at  this  point.  Many  of  our  readers  are  doubtless 
familiar  with  the  Kabalistic  interpretation  of  that  text. 
The  Kabalists,  not  being  believers  in  any  such  thing  as 


LECTURE  III. 


51 


absolute  or  essential  evil  in  the  constitution  of  the 
universe  or  man,  declared  the  true  meaning  of  the  word 
evil  to  be  simply  imperfection ; less  than  perfect  state 
is  called  an  evil  state.  In  many  of  us  the  Adam  (in- 
tellect) is  without  its  complementary  Eve  (affection). 
We  are  therefore  not  good,  i,e,  not  perfect.  This 
imperfection  of  ours  is  the  cause  of  our  irregulari- 
ties, antagonisms,  and  general  ineffectiveness.  As  we 
become  inwardly  married,  and  as  this  inward  union 
manifests  outwardly,  we  shall  appear  good,  perfect, 
lacking  nothing,  as  the  apostle  James  speaks  of  those 
who  are  filled  with  divine  wisdom,  which  he  contrasts 
so  finely  with  that  unmentionable  wisdom  of  sensuality 
described  as  devilish.  As  we  can  none  of  us,  to  use 
the  old  correspondential  imagery  employed  in  Genesis, 
partake  of  the  fruit  of  the  tree  of  life  and  also  of  that 
of  the  forbidden  tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil, 
we  have  to  look  well  to  ourselves  to  see  that  the  ser- 
pent of  our  lower  nature  does  not  tempt  us  to  transgress 
the  divine  commandment  engraven  on  the  imperishable 
tablets  of  our  own  immortal  nature.  The  thirst  for 
knowledge  is  good,  and  if  we  gratify  it  aright  we  par- 
take of  the  fruit  of  the  tree  of  life,  which  the  Apocalypse 
tells  us  yields  twelve  manners  of  fruit,  — one  variety 
every  month,  — so  that  the  fruit  is  sufficient  to  satisfy 
the  needs  of  the  whole  year,  through  what  it  signifies. 
If  we  are  actuated  by  sordid  motives,  and  seek  to  be- 
come magicians  of  the  lower  type,  we  shall  surely  for- 
feit our  ability  to  partake  of  the  fruit  of  the  celestial 
tree  and  to  drink  of  the  perennial  spring  of  life-giving 
water. 


U.  OF  ILL  UB. 


62 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


This  expressive  imagery  is  not  hard  to  interpret 
among  students  of  such  literature  as  now  issues  from 
the  press,  filled  with  references  to  a higher  and  a lower 
principle  in  man.  Bishop  Butler,  author  of  the  famous 
“ Analogy,”  formerly  considered  an  unanswerable  vin- 
dication of  the  Christian  religion,  was  without  doubt  a 
Theosophist,  even  if  he  knew  it  not,  as  in  his  analysis 
of  the  component  elements  which  make  up  man  as  we 
at  present  see  him,  he  described  all  as  good  in  their 
place  and  for  some  special  purpose,  but  gave  the  crown 
and  palm  of  precedence  and  sovereignty  to  a spiritual 
element,  — none  other  than  the  atma  or  highest  princi- 
ple in  the  human  constitution,  insisted  upon  as  supreme 
by  all  initiates  and  their  pupils.  The  intellectual  soul 
of  man  is  surely  placed  midway  between  the  anima 
hruta  seat  of  all  selfish  desires  and  the  anima  divina 
seat  of  all  spiritual  promptings.  The  Adams  and  Eves 
(reasoning  and  affectional  impulses)  of  our  distinctively 
human  principle  are  always  oscillating  between  obedi- 
ence to  the  voice  of  the  divine  and  the  voice  of  the 
animal.  We  must  choose  to  obey  one  or  the  other; 
both  we  cannot  follow,  for  no  man  can  serve  two  mas- 
ters, however  much  he  may  desire  to  do  so.  We  can- 
not look  in  two  directions  at  once,  though  we  can  turn 
our  heads  round,  and  look  first  in  one,  then  in  the  other 
direction.  We  cannot  be  going  up  and  down  hill  at 
the  same  moment,  nor  can  we  sail  toward  the  equator 
and  toward  the  pole  at  the  same  instant.  Theosophy 
places  before  us  most  clearly  and  solemnly  the  respon- 
sibility and  consequence  of  choice.  We  cannot  stand 
still  long,  if  at  all ; we  must  move  up  or  down,  forward 


LECTURE  III, 


63 


or  backward.  Which  shall  it  be,  God  or  Mammon? 
Christ  or  Belial?  We  cannot  choose  both. 

Theosophy,  taking  as  it  does  all  fictitious  dread  of 
divine  wrath  and  an  ever-burning  hell  from  the  minds 
of  man,  substitutes  for  these  nightmares  of  unreason 
the  inevitable  law  of  sequence,  Karma^  cause  and  effect. 
By  placing  the  judge  and  judgment  seat  within  instead 
of  without  us,  it  renders  rational  the  thought  of  judg- 
ment ; but  by  so  doing  it  does  but  impress  the  idea  of 
a judgment  from  which  none  can  escape  the  more  firmly 
in  our  minds.  Believers  in  vicarious  sacrifice,  in  the 
old  false  view  of  forgiveness,  and  other  dogmas  of  ex- 
ternalism,  may  always  hope  to  evade  the  consequences 
of  their  lives,  but  Theosophy  offers  no  such  loophole 
of  escape.  Sin  can  be  outgrown,  but  penalty  is  never 
cancelled.  Man  makes  his  own  heaven  or  his  own 
hell.  The  sources  of  our  joy  or  misery  are  within  us ; 
and  as  we  cannot  escape  from  ourselves,  we  cannot  be 
happy  or  see  the  divine  kingdom  until  we  have  grown 
into  an  affectionate  appreciation  of  eternal  law;  then 
shall  we  have  risen  superior  to  hope  of  reward  and 
dread  of  punishment  alike.  Happiness  will  then  be 
our  unasked  boon,  our  unsought  treasure ; for  as  hap- 
piness follows  righteousness  within,  as  night  follows 
day  and  day  again  succeeds  to  night,  heaven  and  happi- 
ness will  then  be  ours  forever. 


LECTURE  IV. 


MIRACLES  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

Continuing  the  thread  of  our  study  from  our  re- 
marks in  the  past  three  discourses,  we  find  ourselves 
brought  face  to  face  with  the  great  problem  of  miracle 
in  the  light  of  nineteenth  century  criticism.  “ Robert 
Elsmere”  might  supply  us  with  a text  for  the  basis 
of  this  study.  ^‘Miracles  do  not  happen,”  which  Mrs. 
Humphrey  Ward  rightly  says  is  but  a restatement  of 
Hume’s  old  argument. 

Watching  the  drifts  of  modern  skeptical  inquiry  none 
of  us  can  be  blind  to  the  fact  that  so-called  liberalism 
or  radicalism  is  daily  and  hourly  tending  nearer  and 
nearer  the  unsatisfactory  point  of  historical  and  actual 
negation. 

Learning  in  a purely  critical  direction  seems  to  be 
one  long  wearisome  process  of  unlearning ; long  cher- 
ished beliefs  and  attachments  have  all  to  be  given  up, 
and  the  weary  restless  mind  of  the  scholar  must  either 
dismiss  the  subject  with  a sigh  or  allow  himself  to  be 
carried  on  by  the  stream  of  doubt  to  where  he  at 
length  finds  himself  forever  banished  from  the  super- 
natural and  confronted  with  a stern,  inexorable,  natural 
order  from  which  there  can  be  no  deviation  in  time  or 
eternity.  A rationalistic  view  of  history  allows  no 


LECTURE  rV. 


65 


place  for  a resurrection  or  an  ascension,  as  it  allows  no 
opportunity  for  a miraculous  birth ; it  is  inexorably 
committed  to  inevitable  natural  law  and  enforces  the 
reign  of  law  everywhere  as  a dogma  of  the  creed  of 
necessity. 

At  first  sight  such  a consummation  is  greatly  to  be 
dreaded,  as  it  would  drive  out  of  the  world  all  art, 
poetry,  romance,  and  all  beside  that  appears  most  at- 
tractive to  a loving  and  sensitive  disposition ; but  when 
inspected  a little  more  closely  after  the  shock  of  dis- 
illusion has  been  recovered  from,  the  new  view  of  life 
which  science  and  philosophy  alike  compel  us  to  take, 
instead  of  being  the  cold  barren  one  it  at  first  seemed 
to  be,  soon  glows  with  a life,  love,  and  beauty  vastly 
superior  to  any  excellence  we  can  find  in  the  old  dis- 
carded system  from  which  it  may  have  cost  us  such 
agony  to  cut  loose.  Our  object  on  this  occasion  is  not, 
however,  to  leave  the  subject  in  the  hands  of  Hume  or 
any  other  negative  or  speculative  philosopher ; we  are 
not  disposed  to  deal  with  negations,  nor  to  remain  con- 
tented with  any  attitude  of  denial;  for  in  our  eyes 
doubt  and  denial  are  but  dark  passage  ways  leading 
from  one  lighted  gallery  to  another,  and  that  other 
larger  and  brighter  than  the  one  left  behind. 

Now  what  does  the  word  miracle  mean  when  rightly 
defined?  It  is  interpreted  in  several  dictionaries  as 
an  act  or  event  beyond  human  power,”  while  the  word 
miraculous  in  the  same  lexicons  is  defined  supernatural 
and  also  wonderful.  Now  this  word  miracle  is  evidently 
an  elastic  one,  for  wonderful  things  are  by  no  means 
necessarily  supernatural ; nor  are  events  beyond  human 


56 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


power  necessarily  above  nature,  for  do  we  not  witness 
natural  occurrences  every  day  far  beyond  man’s  power 
to  produce.  We  certainly  include  insects  in  our  defini- 
tions of  natural  productions ; but  while  any  one  can 
easily  destroy  millions  of  them,  who  can  create  even  one  ? 
Spontaneous  generation  is  a mere  will  o’  the  wisp,” 
utterly  unsubstantiated  by  any  kind  of  scientific  experi- 
ment. Life  then  is  miraculous,  insects  are  miraculous, 
because  the  wonderful  ways  of  spirit  breathing  itself 
into  outward  expression  even  in  the  minutest  forms  of 
terrestrial  existence  are  utterly  beyond  human  power  to 
duplicate,  or  at  least  beyond  such  development  of  hu- 
man ability  as  we  are  at  present  acquainted  with.  Now 
there  are  three  ways  of  accounting  for  events  usually 
styled  miracles.  Firsts  they  are  defined  by  orthodox 
theologians,  as  supernatural  in  the  strictest  sense,  ix, 
God  has  stepped  aside  from  his  ordinary  method  of 
governing  the  world  by  natural  law  and  has  astonished 
its  inhabitants  by  a display  of  His  power  to  suspend 
the  operation  of  his  own  law.  Second^  they  are  defined 
by  skeptics  of  every  name  as  non-historical  or  unreal 
occurrences,  partaking  of  the  nature  of  imaginary  nar- 
ratives or  fairy  tales,  and  are  to  be  accounted  for  only 
by  attributing  belief  in  them  to  human  ignorance  and 
credulity.  Thirds  they  are  regarded  by  spiritual  scien- 
tists as  unusual  displays  of  an  occult  force  in  the 
universe  which  ever  exists  and  which  can  and  will 
reproduce  such  phenomena  whenever  the  necessary 
conditions  are  afforded.  With  the  first  and  second 
explanations  we  do  not  care  particularly  to  deal,  as  the 
ground  has  been  so  long  and  ably  covered  by  arguers 


LECTURE  IV, 


67 


in  favor  of  both  those  theories ; it  is  with  the  third  posi- 
tion only  we  feel  ourselves  called  upon  to  deal  exten- 
sively at  any  time,  as  we  cannot  but  feel  this  reasonable, 
moderate,  and  satisfactory  view  is  the  only  one  which 
makes  history  really  intelligible,  and  the  past  record  of 
mankind  to  accord  with  the  scientific  and  spiritual  devel- 
opments of  the  present.  Now,  plainly  the  author  of 
“Robert  Elsmere”  has  not  grasped  this  position,  she 
has  made  her  hero  recoil  from  the  supernatural  and 
embrace  the  skeptical,  though  to  do  her  justice,  his 
skepticism  is  not  of  an  objectionable  type,  and  does  not 
in  the  least  interfere  with  his  complete  acceptance  of 
all  truth  generally  necessary  to  a noble  and  successful 
life. 

It  is  from  the  scientific  and  experimental  rather  than 
from  the  theological  or  moral  standpoint  that  we  take 
exception  to  the  statement,  “ miracles  do  not  happen,” 
in  the  sense  in  which  the  words  are  used  in  her  narra- 
tive ; for  while,  undoubtedly,  events  commonly  called 
miraculous  are  only  wonderful  or  unusual  and  do  not 
owe  their  origin  to  any  interference  with  universal 
law,  the  impression  given  to  the  ordinary  mind,  is  that 
the  alleged  events  never  took  place,  and  that  similar 
events  never  can  take  place,  there  being  a law  to  pre- 
vent them. 

Now,  to  state  our  position  clearly  before  proceeding 
further : In  the  strictly  etymological  sense  of  the  term, 
a miracle  is  simply  a surprising  occurrence,  not  neces- 
sarily due  to  any  approach  toward  a suspension  of  uni- 
versal law,  but  on  the  contrary  exhibiting  the  power  in 
operation  of  a hitherto  unknown  or  unrecognized  though 


58 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


eternally-existing  law.  The  phonograph,  which  repro- 
duced the  performance  of  a military  band  at  the  Pre- 
sidio to  an  amazed  and  delighted  audience  in  the  centre 
of  San  Francisco,  wrought  a miracle  in  the  ears  of  those 
who  could  not  comprehend  how  tones  could  be  thus 
mysteriously  recorded,  preserved,  and  reproduced  at 
will  by  a subtle  but  unpretending  little  scientific  in- 
strument which  in  common  with  every  really  valuable 
discovery  of  to-day  owes  its  potency  to  man’s  ever- 
increasing  familiarity  with  electricity  and  its  uses. 

Electricity  is  the  future  motor,  indeed  it  is  the  only 
motor  if  men  did  but  know  it ; but  electricity  works  in 
obedience  to  an  unchanging  law,  and  this  law  is  subject 
to  will^  as  all  law  is  the  product  and  expression  of  will ; 
therefore,  as  man’s  will  becomes  ever  more  and  more 
free  from  sordid  material  entanglement  he  gains  ever 
greater  and  greater  ascendancy  over  the  subtlest  and 
most  potential  of  all  the  forces  which  are  really  only 
different  modes  of  operation  of  one  sole  force  — electric- 
ity. In  his  review  or  rather,  somewhat  severe  criticism 
of  “ Robert  Elsmere,”  William  Ewart  Gladstone,  who 
is  a good  theologian  as  well  as  a distinguished  states- 
man, shows  the  incompleteness  of  ‘‘  Elsmere’s  ” position 
by  pointing  out  the  serious  omission  always  made  by 
those  who  repudiate  miracles  on  the  score  of  their 
being  impossible  owing  to  the  continuous  operation  of 
a fixed  law  of  necessity  governing  the  entire  universe ; 
this  important  omission,  which  is  the  reason  of  the 
failure  of  their  arguments  to  reach  conclusiveness,  is 
their  blindness  to  the  very  nature  of  the  law  for  whose 
immutability  and  omnipresence  they  are  such  earnest 


LECTUKE  IV. 


69 


sticklers.  Law  is  not  and  cannot  be  apart  from  legis- 
lation, and  legislation  necessitates  a legislator;  this 
legislator  is  will.  Now  man  is  an  embodied  expression 
of  divine  will,  and  thus  all  intelligent  Theosophists  have 
from  the  very  earliest  days  understood  the  esoteric 
meaning  of  the  text,  ‘‘  Ye  believe  in  God,  believe  also 
in  me.” 

The  authors  of  the  Synoptics  were  genealogists,  his- 
torians, biographers,  to  a considerable  extent  at  least ; 
they  began  their  gospels  with  reference  to  the  lineal 
descent  of  Jesus  from  David,  or  they  recorded  some 
incident  connected  with  his  early  life.  Remember  we 
are  not  questioning  the  spiritual  or  correspondential 
meaning  of  the  first  three  gospels,  we  are  simply  allud- 
ing to  their  literal  form  which  is  in  such  decided  con- 
trast with  the  fourth  or  gnostic  gospel,  which  without 
the  slightest  preparation,  or  the  faintest  reference  to 
literal  history,  plunges  at  once  into  a clear  but  mystical 
interpretation  of  the  Word.  Greek  scholars  and  all 
who  have  studied  Plato  will  at  once  perceive  in  the 
Word  of  John  a reaffirmation  of  the  logos  of  Plato. 

Now  it  was  the  endeavor  of  whoever  wrote  the  fourth 
gospel  to  impress  upon  his  hearers  the  eternity  and 
divinity  of  the  essential  spirit  of  man.  The  logos  of 
the  Greeks  means  exactly  the  same  as  the  atma  of 
the  Hindus,  which  Theosophists  term  the  seventh  and 
highest  principle  in  the  constitution  of  man.  This 
seventh  principle,  as  it  is  termed,  is  the  immortal  prin- 
ciple, the  Alpha  and  Omega,  that  from  which  all  lower 
principles  are  expressed  and  by  virtue  of  which  alone 
they  can  exist. 


60 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


Now  in  the  days  of  Jesus  there  seems  to  have  been 
a singular  and  depressing  distrust  of  human  goodness 
and  greatness  in  the  world;  sin  and  weakness  every- 
where abounded,  and  among  the  Jews  this  loss  of  per- 
sonal goodness,  this  failure  to  maintain  a genuine  high 
record  for  righteousness,  was  sapping  the  very  founda- 
tions of  collective  and  individual  safety.  Judea  was 
already  a Roman  province,  the  hated  name  of  Caesar 
was  the  synonym  of  government,  and  while  there  were 
no  end  of  religious  quacks  endeavoring  to  heal  the  com- 
munal body  by  disgraceful  processes  of  anarchy  and 
venality,  the  truly  wise  and  great  among  the  Israelites 
were  beginning  to  feel  the  force  of  the  teaching  of 
Jesus,  who  forbade  them  under  penalty  of  inevitable 
ruin  to  employ  ferocious  measures  or  in  any  way  to  re- 
taliate upon  their  conquerors.  Jesus  came  as  a Hebrew 
reformer,  to  save  and  bless  his  own  countrymen  first, 
then  to  spread  the  gospel  of  truth  over  the  whole 
world;  but  he  clearly  believed  that  Jerusalem  was  the 
rightful  centre  of  civilization  at  that  time,  and  from  the 
Hebrew  race  he  taught  enlightenment  was  to  go  forth 
to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth.  As  he  interpreted 
the  moral  law  much  as  Isaiah,  Jeremiah  and  other  proph- 
ets had  interpreted  it  previously,  he  won  for  himself  the 
cordial  detestation  of  religious  hypocrites  and  political 
demagogues,  who  together  conspired  against  him  be- 
cause his  teachings  stirred  up  the  people  to  noble  inde- 
pendence of  thought  and  feeling,  and  tended  to  wrest 
the  reins  of  government  from  the  hands  of  tyrants  and 
establish  by  peaceable  means  a kingdom  of  heaven  on 
earth ; not  a republic  where  vox  populi  vox  Dei  would 


LECTURE  IV. 


61 


be  the  accepted  motto,  but  a political  and  social  state 
in  which  the  cream  of  society  would  rise  to  the  surface 
and  be  acknowledged,  no  matter  whether  it  rose  from 
the  ranks  of  titled  nobility  or  humble  fishermen. 

Jesus  was  neither  a monarchist  nor  a democrat,  in 
that  he  points  out  the  weakness  of  both  schools,  and 
seeks  to  lead  his  disciples  to  the  understanding  of  a 
practical  utopian  government  in  which  righteousness 
must  prevail  because  of  men’s  love  for  it.  Now  in  a 
sensation-loving  age  we  are  told  by  men  of  the  skeptical 
school  of  thought  that  Jesus  had  to  appeal  to  the  love 
of  the  marvelous  in  those  about  him,  and  we  are  further 
informed  that  the  tendency  of  those  times  was  to  exalt 
miracle  so  highly  that  sensational  wonder-working  would 
win  popularity  for  a cause  which  otherwise  would  fail 
for  lack  of  sustenance.  Taking  its  stand  on  that  asser- 
tion, this  school  seeks  to  account  for  the  rise  and  spread 
of  Christianity  on  the  basis  of  alleged  miracle,  though  of 
course,  the  skeptical  intellect  says,  miracles  never  hap- 
pen,” and  though  Jesus  and  his  followers  may  have 
been-  honest  they  were  fanatical,  and  subject  to  illu- 
sions, while  those  who  came  after  them  were  still  more 
fanciful  and  not  always  honest,  as  these  later  Chris- 
tians according  to  all  testimony,  invented  miraculous 
stories  without  stint,  to  propagate  their  peculiar  doc- 
trines, and  most  of  all  to  gain  for  themselves  undis- 
puted ascendancy  over  the  minds  and  property  of  a 
credulous,  ungodly,  illiterate  multitude. 

Now  every  skeptical  objection,  however  plausible, 
when  put  forward  on  these  lines  utterly  fails  to  explain 
away  miracles  or  to  account  for  the  spread  of  Christian- 


62 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


ity  in  the  first  century.  Miracles,  it  is  true,  were  and 
are  very  popular  among  the  credulous  who  are  never 
weary  of  startling  exhibitions  of  occult  power,  and  who 
are  indeed  so  well  pleased  with  successful  sleight-of- 
hand  and  other  feats  of  dexterity,  that  they  do  not  at 
all  object  to  be  deceived  if  their  credulity  is  fed.  Mira- 
cle-mongers and  believers  in  miracles  were  very  com- 
mon all  over  the  Roman  Empire  in  the  days  of  Jesus, 
and  long  afterward,  and  from  this  fact  alone  we  may 
logically  conclude  that  the  simply  miraculous  element 
had  exceedingly  little  to  do  with  the  spread  of  primi- 
tive Christianity ; for  why,  in  the  name  of  reason  let  it 
be  asked,  should  people  abandon  one  miraculous  system 
for  another  when  the  latter  was  no  more  miraculous 
than  the  former  ? It  is  at  this  point  that  miracles  re- 
quire classification  as  well  as  definition.  Miracles  may 
be  divided  into  four  classes  : — 

Firsts  Ordinary  events  which  are  only  regarded  as 
miraculous  by  persons  afflicted  with  over-strung  nerves 
whose  diseased  condition  causes  them  to  attribute  every- 
thing unusual  or  mysterious  to  supernatural  agency.  In 
connection  with  such  occurrences  as  are  termed  miracles 
by  hysterically  disposed  persons,  must  be  classed,  of 
course,  those  subjective  experiences  of  their  own,  which 
have  no  actual  form  for  any  but  the  nervous  beholder. 

Second^  Genuine  exhibitions  of  some  occult  power, 
such  as  mesmerism,  thought  reading,  etc.,  which  must 
always  create  intense  surprise  and  be  looked  upon 
either  as  divine  or  diabolical,  until  the  simple,  rational 
explanation  of  such  phenomena  shall  be  scientifically 
published  and  accepted  by  the  world  in  general.  Under 


LECTUKE  IV. 


63 


this  heading  we  would  place  all  genuine  occult  phenom- 
ena which  apparently  accomplish  neither  appreciable 
good  or  harm,  but  simply  amaze  the  witnesses  and  set 
them  to  wondering  how  such  things  can  be. 

Thirds  All  unscrupulous  exercise  of  occult  power, 
sometimes  denominated  black  magic,”  and  now  often 
designated  malicious  mesmerism;  in  the  Middle  Ages 
regarded  as  dealing  with  the  devil,  and  in  very  ancient 
times  designated  sorcery,  witchcraft,  necromancy,  etc., 
and  sternly  forbidden  many  times  by  Hebrew  prophets 
and  legislators  and  also  by  wise  and  good  men  in  all 
countries.  Under  this  caption  we  should  include  all 
abuse  of  psychic  power,  which  is  of  course  reprehensi- 
ble, as  the  perversion  of  any  faculty  must  be  a source 
of  danger  to  the  individual  and  society. 

Fourth^  Divine  magic,  which  is  none  other  than  the 
work  of  those  true  adepts  or  initiates,  who  have  in 
every  age  and  place  so  subdued  the  flesh  to  the  spirit, 
that  they  have  developed  extraordinary  power  over  the 
lower  forces  of  nature.  It  is  to  this  divine  magic,  the 
true  Theosophist  ever  appeals,  when  asked  for  the  cre- 
dentials of  Theosophy,  and  it  has  now  become  our  duty 
to  deal  with  Bible  miracles  in  the  light  of  definitions 
already  given. 

Every  form  of  divination  was  at  different  times  prac- 
tised among  the  Jews,  who  often  indulged  in  the  black 
art  in  common  with  their  less  enlightened  neighbors, 
the  Canaanites,  Hittites,  etc.  Whenever  they  sank  into 
idolatry  and  immorality  they  had  recourse  to  wizards 
who  peep  and  mutter,  and  exalted  to  the  highest  offices, 
unscrupulous  persons,  who,  while  doubtless  possessed  of 


64 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


considerable  occult  power,  shamelessly  perverted  it  to 
the  basest  of  ends  for  personal  aggrandizement. 

This  power,  however,  misused  as  it  always  was  by 
the  ambitious  and  unscrupulous,  utterly  failed  to  be- 
stow the  slightest  blessing  on  the  community ; instead, 
indeed,  of  benefiting  the  people,  it  added  to  their  dis- 
tresses and  sickness.  Magic  of  that  type  was  performed 
both  by  Moses  and  the  magicians  of  Pharaoh’s  court 
just  prior  to  the  exodus  of  Israel  from  Egypt,  and  until 
Moses  healed  the  people  of  their  afflictions,  he  failed  to 
prove  that  God  was  with  him.  Making  all  the  allow- 
ance any  one  may  please  for  exaggeration  and  roman- 
ticism in  the  narrator’s  style,  the  self-evident  conclusion 
is,  that  when  it  was  a mere  matter  of  converting  rods 
into  snakes  and  snakes  into  rods,  or  of  multiplying 
pests,  Moses  had  no  pre-eminence  over  Pharaoh’s  magi- 
cians who  did  precisely  the  same  with  their  enchant- 
ments ; but  when  it  came  to  driving  away  plagues  and 
disorders,  the  magicians  failed  and  Moses  triumphed. 
Henry  George,  the  great  labor-agitaf^or,  has  spoken 
of  Moses  frequently  in  his  addresses  to  workingmen, 
and  has  commented  with  much  ability  on  that  ancient 
law-giver’s  uncompromising  loyalty  to  principle.  Now 
whether  Moses  be  regarded  as  a genuine  personage,  or 
only  a hero  of  romance,  it  needs  no  long  analysis  of  his 
career  to  see  why  such  a man  was  able  to  accomplish 
wonders  of  beneficence,  the  courted  magicians  of  the 
Egyptian  monarch  could  not  approach.  Moses  was 
from  an  infant  accustomed  to  every  luxury;  and  was 
indeed  heir  apparent  to  the  throne  of  Egypt,  but  he 
preferred  to  cast  in  his  lot  with  oppressed  workmen, 


LECTUEE  IV. 


65 


and  deliver  them  from  cruel  bondage  to  tyrannical  op- 
pressors, at  the  expense  of  every  possible  humiliation 
to  himself,  than  sit  next  Sesostris  on  his  throne,  where 
his  conscience  would  rebuke  him  for  leaving  the  work 
of  human  emancipation  undone.  Such  a man  is  typical 
of  the  true  initiate,  of  the  adept  who  is  a master  where 
others  are  but  slaves ; he  has  conquered  his  own  appe- 
tites and  ambitions;  he  has  educated  his  higher  self; 
he  has  fanned  into  a flame  the  electric  spark  of  divinity 
within,  and  has  thereby  gained  power  which  all  who 
will  rightly^  may  gain  over  the  lower  elements  of  na- 
ture ; he  is  therefore  a healer  and  a moral  benefactor ; 
his  miracles  are  not  tricks  of  occult  force,  like  the  sen- 
sational blasting  of  a tree  unwisely  published  by  Mr. 
Sinnett  in  “ Karma ; a Theosophical  Romance,”  for  the 
power  to  blast  a tree  may  be  diabolical,  and  we  do  not 
wonder  at  the  Englishman  of  conservative  belief  object- 
ing to  a young  relative  of  his,  remaining  where  such 
awful  things  were  accomplished  by  occult  agency.  True 
spiritual  power  does  act  destructively  when  infamies  and 
impurities  have  to  be  thrown  down,  but  it  never  displays 
itself  at  all  in  the  simple  exhibition  of  marvels,  for,  it 
can  only  be  distinguished  from  diabolism  (which  is  a 
perversion  of  the  same  power)  by  its  exclusively  benefi- 
cent action ; thus  from  the  earliest  days  it  has  been 
invariably  associated  almost  exclusively  with  the  refor- 
mation of  sinners  and  the  healing  of  the  sick. 

In  the  case  of  the  prophet  Elisha,  we  are  told  that 
in  healing  Naaman,  the  Assyrian  captain,  of  leprosy, 
he  required  of  his  patient  that  he  should  wash  seven 
times  in  the  Jordan,  maintaining  that  no  amount  of 


66 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


bathing  in  Abana  (stony)  and  Pharpar  (swift)  rivers  of 
Damascus,  could  accomplish  his  cure.  We  are  told  of 
Elijah’s  stretching  himself  on  the  body  of  a seemingly 
dead  child,  and  calling  earnestly  upon  God  to  let  his 
spirit  return  into  the  body,  and  the  child  revived. 

In  all  these  narratives  we  detect  a scientific  note ; 
means  are  employed,  events  are  brought  about  evidently 
through  the  operation  of  an  unchanging  law,  but  such 
great  results  can  only  be  achieved  by  those  who  pray 
Widifast  as  the  gospel  teaches  — prayer  and  fasting  signi- 
fying aspiration  and  self-denial,  i.e,  denial  of  the  lower 
self  that  the  higher  self  may  perfectly  prevail.  To  re- 
vert now  very  briefly  to  the  miracles  said  to  have  been 
wrought  by  Jesus  and  his  immediate  disciples,  not  one 
was  a mere  sensation ; in  every  instance  some  sick  or 
insane  or  crippled  person  was  healed  of  an  infirmity, 
and  whatever  view  Jesus  or  his  apostles  may  have  taken 
of  his  divinity  or  simple  humanity,  the  miracles  were 
never  put  forward  as  evidence  of  supernatural  deity ; 
for  had  they  been^  the  words  could  never  have  found 
place  in  the  record,  The  works  that  I do  ye  shall  do 
also,  and  greater  works  than  these  shall  ye  do  because 
I go  to  my  Father.”  Here  we  have  a strictly  scientific 
view  of  miracles.  Jesus  tells  his  disciples  that  accord- 
ing to  their  faith  it  shall  be  unto  them;  he  also  tells 
those  who  are  healed  by  his  touch  or  by  mere  contact 
with  his  robe  that  their  own  faith  has  healed  them,  and 
when  he  has  departed  from  mortal  sight  entirely,  and 
his  disciples  are  weaned  far  more  from  earthly  attach- 
ments, then  shall  they  do  yet  greater  deeds  than  any 
done  before,  continually  demonstrating  further  and 


LECTURE  IV. 


67 


further  in  their  own  experience  the  divine  possibilities 
of  humanity. 

Let  us  sum  up  the  matter  in  this  wise.  Very  little 
do  we  know  of  time,  place,  and  circumstance,  with  re- 
gard to  the  miracles  of  old,  but  one  great  lesson  we  do 
learn  from  all  the  scriptural  narratives,  and  this  we  am- 
plify and  prove  by  reason  and  modern  experiment,  viz. 
that  wisdom  is  to  be  gained  only  by  diligent  devotion 
to  truth.  Divine  wisdom  is  a queen  who  permits  no 
rival  to  share  our  affections  with  her ; the  wisdom  which 
is  from  above  is  only  to  be  courted  and  won  by  a life 
of  such  spirituality  as  expresses  itself  invariably  in  the 
entire  devotion  of  practical  whole-souled  philanthropy. 
“ Robert  Elsmere  ” died  physically  on  the  road  to  this 
higher  understanding ; let  his  progressing  spirit  define 
miracles  and  he  will  not  reiterate  the  words  of  Hume, 
Miracles  do  not  happen,”  but  will  explain  how  man’s 
power  derived  from  God  is  practically  unlimited,  but 
requires  earnest  and  unceasing  effort  to  unfold  and 
apply. 


I 


LECTURE  V. 


EGYPTIAN  THEOSOPHY. 

The  very  name  of  Egypt  is  associated  in  almost  every 
mind  not  only  with  hoary  antiquity,  stupendous  edifices, 
and  marvelous  learning,  but  above  all  with  a system  of 
religious  thought  so  profound  and  amazing,  that  we 
may  well  ask  whether  Professor  Smyth  has  not  some 
justification  for  his  astounding  declaration  that  the 
Almighty  Himself  must  have  designed  the  Great  Pyra- 
mid and  made  known  the  secret  of  His  plan  to  Mel- 
chisedec  or  some  equally  wonderful  personage  who 
figures  in  biblical  history. 

Though  the  fact  is  often  disputed  by  half-informed 
and  one-sided  students,  the  mass  of  testimony  already 
accumulated  in  favor  of  the  real  historical  existence  of 
Atlantis  is  far  too  great  to  be  set  aside  by  any  Egyptolo- 
gist worthy  the  name  of  a scholar,  who  possesses  him- 
self of  this  evidence  and  candidly  examines  it.  The 
Atlantian  hypothesis,  or  rather  explanation,  does  away 
with  the  need  of  supernatural  invention,  and  proves  to 
us  how,  through  long  ages  of  gradual  and  unceasing 
developments,  the  human  mind  reached  a height  from 
which  it  could  command  such  a view  of  the  universe  as 
that  taken  by  the  earliest  illumined  ones,  who  have  left 
a sublime  and  seemingly  indelible  impress  on  the  earth 


LECTURE  V. 


69 


itself  in  that  most  renowned  of  all  far-famed  countries, 
Egypt.  One  fact  alone  is  sufficient  to  give  much 
plausibility  to  the  theory  of  an  Atlantian  conquest  of 
Egypt,  and  that  is  that  the  most  ancient  monuments 
are  by  far  the  most  magnificent.  This  would  argue 
against  evolution  were  we  to  accept  it  as  a solitary 
unexplained  fact,  as  orthodox  people  are  glad  to  do. 
For  the  Theosophist,  however,  these  monuments  have 
a widely  different  meaning;  they  point  not  to  divine 
favoritism,  to  the  arbitrary  selection  of  one  here  and 
one  there  as  a result  of  sovereignty,  but  to  the  results 
of  long  ages  of  growth,  culminating  at  length  in  the 
achievement  of  an  almost  complete  mastery  over  the 
material  side  of  nature. 

When  the  conquerors  of  the  Atlantian  race,  the  cele- 
brated red  men  of  the  distant  past,  came  into  Egypt, 
they  doubtless  found  the  inhabitants  sunk  in  that  form 
of  idolatry  commonly  called  nature  worship,  as  it  con- 
sisted of  an  adoration  of  natural  forms  below  the  human. 
The  river  Nile,  the  crocodile,  the  ox,  the  lotus  flower, 
the  dog,  the  cat,  the  serpent,  birds,  and  many  other 
objects  in  the  vegetable  and  animal  kingdoms,  were  the 
popular  divinities.  Now  it  must  not  be  supposed  that 
idolatry  was  worship  of  the  inanimate  or  the  material, 
though  it  may  in  some  instances  have  degenerated  into 
this ; it  was  originally  a form  of  Spiritualism  of  a not 
very  elevated  type.  The  ancients  in  all  the  Orient  rec- 
ognized an  invisible  life  principle  pervading  the  entire 
universe.  They  witnessed  its  expression  in  the  multi- 
form varieties  of  existence  all  about  them,  and  seeing  one 
attribute  of  the  life  principle  expressed  in  one  creature. 


70 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


and  some  other  attributes  expressed  elsewhere,  they 
paid  honor  to  the  particular  creatures  who  manifested 
the  qualities  they  most  dreaded  or  admired.  Their  wor- 
ship was,  therefore,  divided  into  two  large  and  many 
small  varieties.  Good  influences  were  praised  with 
flowers,  music,  and  peaceful  rites  of  a poetic  and  ele- 
vating tendency ; but  a fearful  error  was  perpetuated 
when  the  priests  of  the  old  temples  encouraged  the 
propitiation  of  evil  powers.  From  this  arose  the  sacri- 
ficial customs  of  the  most  barbaric  type,  though  min- 
gled with  the  desire  to  propitiate  awful  influences  was 
coupled  a desire  to  feed  beneficent  ones. 

The  Spiritualism  of  primitive  people  was  very  child- 
ish, but  very  natural.  They  saw  animals  much  larger 
and  stronger  than  themselves  waiting  to  devour  them. 
They  saw  that  birds  and  beasts  of  prey  rarely  attacked 
man  unless  hungry  or  irritated,  and  they  concluded  that 
in  the  unseen  world  intelligences  whom  they  ignorantly 
deified  were  of  similar  disposition.  Thus  those  who 
threw  themselves  or  others  into  the  Nile  to  feed  the 
crocodiles,  usually  did  so  with  no  other  end  in  view 
than  the  propitiation  of  an  unseen  power  behind  the 
crocodile,  which  would  accept  the  sacrifice  and  stay  the 
avenging  sword  of  destruction  threatening  the  land. 

Looking  backward  over  the  lapse  of  ages  and  trying 
to  put  ourselves  in  the  place  of  our  ancestors,  we  shall 
find  much  to  shock,  but  more  to  encourage  us  as  we 
seek  to  faithfully  trace  modern  beliefs  and  practices  to 
their  ancient  source.  The  vulgar  religious  notions  of 
the  West  of  to-day  are  perpetuations  of  antique  Egyp- 
tian ideas  and  customs.  Christianity  is  the  old  Egyp- 


LECTUKE  V. 


71 


tian  religion  in  a new  dress ; and  while  in  ritualistic 
observances  and  questionable  dogmas  we  can  clearly 
trace  the  influence  of  the  old  popular  belief  entertained 
by  the  illiterate  masses,  we  need  never  be  at  a loss  to 
find  abundant  traces  of  that  sublime  Solar  worship 
which,  more  than  hero  worship,  was  the  crowning  glory 
of  the  religion  of  the  past.  The  Atlantians  were  Sun- 
worshipers,  without  doubt ; and  the  Great  Pyramid  of 
Gizeh  was  a temple  to  the  Sun,  the  lord  and  giver  of 
life.  But  the  question  now  arises.  What  is  meant  by 
the  Sun  ? How  did  the  enlightened  among  the  ancients 
regard  the  central  luminary  ? Did  it  stand  for  the  high- 
est principle  of  life  in  the  universe  and  man,  or  was  it 
merely,  in  their  eyes,  a material  light,  an  orb  of  matter, 
with  no  soul  or  life,  save  as  soul  and  life  are  terms  used 
blindly  by  agnosticism  ? 

Our  answer  to  all  such  questions  ever  is : The  Sun 
was  a symbol  of  Deity  and  of  the  presiding  rulers  and 
guardian  angels  of  systems.  The  great  central  Sun,  in 
which  the  whole  universe  revolves,  was  not  Alcyone, 
the  centre  of  the  Pleiades,  around  which  the  suns  of 
several  systems  revolve ; neither  was  this  greater  Sun, 
Alcyone,  identified  with  the  Sun,  which  is  but  the  centre 
of  the  small  planetary  system  to  which  this  little  globe 
belongs.  When  Paul  was  preaching  to  the  Athenians 
he  reminded  the  Greeks  of  their  own  Theosophy  de- 
rived directly  from  the  Egyptians.  His  famous  quota- 
tion, In  Him  we  live,  move,  and  have  our  being,”  was 
distinctly  a re-affirmation  of  the  wisdom-religion  of 
antiquity,  which  insisted  before  all  else  that  the  uni- 
verse revolves  within  the  infinite  embrace  of  one  Eter- 


72 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


nal  Spirit.  This  concept  of  pure  Theosophy  places 
Deity  beyond  all  possible  limitation,  and  disposes  finally 
of  all  such  puerilities  as  grow  out  of  trying  to  harmon- 
ize the  idea  of  a central  sun  as  ordinarily  understood, 
with  the  opposite  idea  of  all-pervading  Spirit. 

Having  acknowledged  the  one  Infinite  Spirit  as  the 
only  Eternal  self-existent  Life  of  all  universes,  the 
savans  and  illumined  seers  of  the  Egypt  of  old  pointed 
out  how,  in  the  order  of  the  heavens,  a perfect  system 
of  government  held  sway.  Nothing  is  left  to  chance ; 
law  reigns,  order  prevails  everywhere  ; but  there  is  no 
blind  law  of  necessity  such  as  that  in  which  fatalists 
affect  to  believe.  Intelligence  is  omniscient,  omnipres- 
ent, omnipotent ; and  this  essential  life  of  all  that  lives 
is  the  inmost  spark  of  consciousness,  the  basic  germ  of 
every  organism : “ He  in  us,  and  we  in  Him.”  Behold- 
ing the  exact  order  in  which  everything  in  nature 
moves,  the  wisdom-religionists  of  antiquity  were  of 
necessity  evolutionists,  but  not  in  the  sense  of  tracing 
everything  to  a material  germ  and  then  forward  to  a 
spiritual  hereafter.  Involution  is  indispensable  to  evo- 
lution; nothing  can  possibly  be  evolved  or  unrolled 
which  has  not  been  previously  involved  or  inrolled. 
When  gazing  upon  the  myriad  orbs  which  revolve  in 
infinity,  the  astronomers  and  astrologers,  who  consti- 
tuted a powerful  section  of  the  Magi,  concluded  that 
there  must  be  a perfect  system  of  government  in  the 
heavens  and  throughout  the  universe.  As  they  beheld 
some  worlds  brighter  by  far  than  others,  and  differing 
widely  in  magnitude,  the  one  from  the  other,  they 
thought,  very  reasonably,  of  the  existence  of  celestial 


LECTURE  V. 


73 


hierarchies,  all  of  which  were  said  to  be  under  the 
dominion  of  the  Infinite.  We  must  be  careful  not  to 
confound  their  pure,  essential  Theism  with  their  phe- 
nomenal Spiritualism,  but  diligently  compare  the  one 
with  the  other.  By  so  doing  we  shall  find  that  absolute 
Theism  relates  to  the  sole  uncaused  cause  of  all  things, 
— a reality  which  all  scientists  and  philosophers  of 
all  schools  must  admit  under  some  name.  Whether 
they  call  it  the  Infinite  Life,  Power,  Energy,  or  what 
they  choose,  they  must  admit  an  uncreated,  self-existent 
Force  which  pervades  the  universe,  which  always  was 
and  ever  will  be ; while  Spiritualism  deals  with  finite 
revelations  and  expressions  of  the  one  life.  These  two 
systems  are  not  in  the  least  antagonistic  one  to  the 
other ; they  only  appear  so  to  those  who  jump  at  con- 
clusions, and  whose  immoderately  hasty,  and  therefore 
shallow  brain  prevents  them  from  regarding  a subject 
from  more  than  one  point  of  view. 

As  the  Infinite  Life,  or  grand  Central  Sun  of  Being, 
was  regarded  by  the  truly  wise  in  ancient  times  as 
all-pervading  and  all-including,  the  word  central  really 
signified  interior^  while  the  phenomenal  universe  or 
expressional  existence  was  the  theatre  for  the  display 
of  individualized  intelligences,  continually  struggling 
to  manifest  their  latent  potencies.  As  there  must 
always  be  a limit  to  finite  thought  and  description,  and 
as  some  particular  orb  must  necessarily  mark  the  hori- 
zon of  finite  perception  in  any  epoch,  Alcyone,  the 
centre  of  a universe,  not  of  all  universes,  was  regarded 
as  the  abiding-place  of  the  most  mighty  Archangel  dis- 
cernible by  man.  This  most  ancient  spiritual  being. 


74 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


/ 


whose  individualized  expression  came  within  the  range 
of  astronomical  observation,  was  the  real  Osiris  of  the 
Magi,  while  the  popular  Osiris  was  the  angel  of  the 
lesser  Sun,  the  sun  of  this  planetary  system  only.  The 
duality  of  life  in  its  expression  on  any  plane  of  exis- 
tence was  a cardinal  doctrine  of  the  wisdom-religion. 
While  Sophia  (Wisdom)  is  a Greek  feminine  noun,  and 
Wisdom  is  constantly  alluded  to  under  the  guise  of  a 
woman  in  spiritual  documents,  this  divine  Wisdom  was 
ever  with  her  masculine  consort  Love.  He  (Love)  did 
nothing  alone  in  the  work  of  creation  ; neither  did  she 
(Wisdom)  ever  operate  singly.  An  afterthought  purely 
vicious,  which  grew  up  in  periods  of  decadence,  has 
found  its  way  into  more  modern  writings  purporting  to 
be  of  equal  authority  with  the  most  ancient.  These 
writings  have  been  attempts  to  effect  an  impossible 
compromise  between  the  real  spiritual  knowledge  and 
sublimely  exalted  sentiment  of  the  true  adepts  or  initi- 
ates in  Theosophy,  and  the  coarse  and  brutal  notions 
and  practices  of  the  vulgar  throng  of  animalistic  wor- 
shipers, who  certainly  did  adore  the  male  rather  than 
the  female,  from  the  very  cause  assigned  as  a justifica- 
tion of  the  monstrous  falsehood  that  woman  is  inferior 
to  man  and  ever  must  be  — because  woman  has  less 
physical  force  than  man  and  cannot  make  so  successful 
a warrior. 

The  Scriptures  of  the  Hebrews  and  Christians,  both 
of  which  collections  of  antique  documents  are  largely 
derived  from  Egypt,  set  forth  both  the  higher  and  the 
lower  view  of  this  subject  of  sexual  ejquality  or  inequal- 
ity. Those  portions  of  the  Bible  which  evidently  owe 


LECTURE  V. 


75 


their  origin  to  the  wisdom-religion  teach  the  absolute 
equality  of  the  sexes ; they  are  not  found  to  contain  a 
single  passage  which  can  fairly  be  construed  otherwise. 
The  weaker  portions  of  so-called  Holy  Writ ’’agree 
with  the  current  misconceptions  of  the  periods  in  which 
they  were  written,  and  thus  argue  in  favor  of  man’s  sole 
dominance  and  woman’s  cringing  subservience.  Man 
and  woman  are,  in  the  divine  natural  order  of  the  uni- 
verse, essentially  equal.  Have  you  ever  met  a man 
who  was  not  a woman’s  son,  or  a woman  who  was  not 
a man’s  daughter?  If  woman  cannot  exist  without  a 
father,  and  man  cannot  exist  without  a mother,  how  can 
one  be  above  or  below  the  other  ? Osiris  never  appeared 
without  his  wife,  the  beautiful  veiled  Isis,  in  the  ancient 
portraiture  of  life’s  dual  essence  and  expression ; while 
from  the  union  of  the  blessed  two,  the  offspring  Horus 
proceeded  as  a divine  child,  a celestial  messenger,  not 
miraculously  though  immaculately  conceived  and  born. 
To  understand  the  real  difference  between  immaculate 
and  miraculous  conception,  it  is  only  necessary  to  in- 
quire into  the  proper  meaning  of  terms,  and  we  shall 
soon  see  how  perfectly  natural  the  one  is  and  how 
highly  improbable  the  other.  True  Theosophy  is  not 
incredible  mystery ; it  is  divine  wisdom,  knowledge  of 
life  calculated  to  so  enlighten  all  its  possessors  as  to 
make  them  far  better  able  than  they  would  be  without 
it,  to  stem  the  torrents  of  iniquity  and  promote  the 
reign  of  righteousness  on  earth. 

As  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  has,  without  doubt, 
perpetuated  the  wisdom-religion,  though  it  has  studi- 
ously concealed  it,  under  an  immense  mass  of  dogmas 


76 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


and  ceremonies,  from  the  comprehension  of  the  multi- 
tude, we  shall  find  that  as  the  centuries  roll  on  and 
new  doctrines  are  put  forward  as  articles  of  faith,  and 
special  holidays  celebrated  in  their  honor,  the  veil  is 
gradually  lifting  and  the  people  are  beginning  to  catch 
glimpses  of  a long-cloaked  verity.  The  dogma  of  the 
immaculate  conception,  though  at  first  sight  it  appears 
to  all  Protestants  an  unfounded  superstition,  should  be 
hailed  with  delight  by  all  lovers  of  natural  morality.  On 
the  eighth  day  of  December  every  year  (styled  in  Catho- 
lic calendars  Patronal  Feast  of  the  United  States)  it  is 
declared  from  every  Roman  Catholic  pulpit,  that  Mary, 
the  mother  of  Jesus,  was  conceived,  gestated,  and  born 
without  sin,  yet  she  had  a father  and  a mother  like  any 
other  child.  True,  some  may  reply,  but  the  Church  de- 
clares this  was  the  result  of  a special  act  of  divine  grace 
and  has  occurred  in  no  other  instance,  and  was  rendered 
necessary  to  bring  the  Messiah  into  the  world  in  a spot- 
less body ; therefore  the  celebration  of  this  feast  is  only 
another  link  in  the  old  chain  of  superstition,  and  as 
such  should  be  denounced.  Our  answer  is,  we  are  not 
advocating  Roman  Catholic  interpretations  of  an  ad- 
mitted fact  in  the  Church;  we  are  seeking  its  theo- 
sophical  soul  and  origin;  and  disguise  the  truth  as 
theologians  may,  or  fail  to  see  it  as  many  do,  the 
fact  remains  that  the  most  conservative  and  miracle- 
upholding  Church  does  teach  that  a child  has  been  con- 
ceived, gestated,  and  born  like  all  other  children,  and 
yet  immaculately;  and  the  priests  of  that  Church  do 
very  often  in  their  sermons  on  the  8th  of  December 
hold  up  Mary  as  an  example  to  the  Avorld  on  account  of 


LECTURE  y. 


77 


her  spotless  purity.  Inconsistency,  you  may  cry  out; 
for  if  Mary  was  specially  endowed  by  God  as  no  other 
woman  was,  then  how  can  other  women  take  pattern 
from  her  when  they  are  not  thus  endowed  ? Again  the 
answer  must  be  given:  truth  and  error  are  strangely 
mixed  in  all  theology,  and  it  is  the  work  of  Theosophy 
to  disentangle  them.  He  alone  is  a true  Theosophist 
who  is  not  afraid  of  any  mixture  of  truth  and  error,  but 
boldly  works  to  sift  the  chaff  from  the  wheat,  and  sever 
the  gold  from  the  alloy.  This  is  not  done  by  the  sledge- 
hammer blows  of  the  iconoclast,  who  looks  not  at  all  to 
the  truth  within,  and  seeing  some  tares  would  condemn 
an  entire  field  as  full  of  them.  We  need  constructive, 
discriminating  workers,  who  can  impartially  and  dis- 
passionately distinguish  between  truth  and  falsehood. 
These,  and  these  only,  can  collect  material  for  the  uni- 
versal church  of  the  future,  which  will  be  enchained  by 
no  rigorous  bonds,  but  will  welcome  to  its  embrace  all 
who  are  desirous  of  living  for  the  spirit  rather  than  for 
the  flesh. 

We  are  quite  ready  to  listen  with  approval  to  many 
objections  to  the  dogma  of  the  miraculous  conception 
of  Jesus;  but  if  in  the  case  of  Jesus  the  Church  used 
the  same  argument  it  uses  with  regard  to  Mary,  the  im- 
maculate conception  and  the  immaculateness  of  all  that 
follows  could  be  easily  and  usefully  argued  out.  How 
many  women  are  there  who  expect  to  become  virgin 
mothers  in  the  literal  sense  of  the  word  virgin  as 
made  to  apply  to  a state  of  celibacy  only  ? Here  and 
there  a disappointed,  deluded  person  may  be  chasing 
such  a will-o’-the-wisp ; but  may  not  every  girl  and 


78 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


every  boy  be  instructed  to  regard  the  procreative  func- 
tion as  sacred,  and  would  not  some  sound,  plain  talk  on 
the  ancient  phalic  worship  in  its  original  purity,  do 
much  good  in  many  quarters  in  the  direction  of  elevat- 
ing the  general  idea  of  sexual  relations  above  that  of 
disgusting  animality.  Let  the  original  truth  on  this 
subject  be  brought  to  light,  let  the  natural  relation  of 
the  sexes  be  purely  and  fairly  dealt  with,  and  an  end 
will  soon  come  to  woman’s  degradation  and  enforced 
motherhood,  to  the  birth  of  unwelcome  children,  and 
the  multiplication  of  criminal  tramps.  Unless  the  wis- 
dom-religion be  revealed  in  its  application  to  daily  life 
and  social  purity,  Theosophy,  as  a system  of  dreamy 
speculation,  may  as  well  be  relegated  to  the  Oriental 
chairs  of  a few  universities  and  fall  into  innocuous  des- 
uetude, as  the  race  engages  its  mind  and  taxes  its  brain 
with  matters  of  every-day  utility. 

True  Theosophy  is  the  underlying  principle  of  all 
reform ; it  is  no  antiquated  or  half-way  measure  teach- 
ing of  things  in  no  direct  way  pertaining  to  life  here 
and  now ; and  though  we  have  the  greatest  respect  for 
Spiritualism,  and  can  see  in  it  a means  for  the  highest 
elevation  of  humanity  (though  honesty  compels  us  to 
admit  it  can  be  desecrated  to  the  undoing  of  the  race), 
we  have  no  doubt  but  the  excessive  other-worldliness 
of  the  Egyptians  led  at  length  to  the  loss  of  power  and 
grandeur  which  once  made  Egypt  a land  of  light,  though 
eventually  its  name  became  the  synonym  of  darkness. 
According  to  Bunsen’s  Chronology,  Egypt  was  ruled 
by  divine  rulers  for  a consecutive  period  of  13,900 
years;  then  came  a race  of  demi-gods  who  ruled  the 


LECTURE  V. 


79 


land;  then  their  reign  was  over,  and  the  Pharaohs  or 
native  rulers  wore  the  crown.  After  the  Pharaoic 
period,  Persians,  Greeks,  Romans,  Turks,  in  succession, 
tyrannized  over  the  dispossessed  inhabitants,  till  of  late 
English  interference  in  Egypt  has  marked  the  latest 
stage  in  foreign  conquest.  Here  again  would  we  empha- 
size our  most  positive  conviction  that  Atlantis  was  the 
source  whence  early  Egypt  derived  her  knowledge. 
The  gods  and  goddesses  were  none  other  than  the 
ancient  rulers  who  came  from  the  higher  Atlantian 
race,  and  were  looked  upon  as  divinities  by  the  people 
because  of  their  superior  spiritual  as  well  as  intellectual 
attainments.  Gerald  Massey,  whose  poetry  is  often 
exquisite,  and  whose  fame  as  a scholar  is  by  no  means 
inconsiderable,  has  certainly  ridden  his  favorite  hobby- 
horse, Astro-Mythology,  to  death,  when  he  has  charac- 
terized Atlantis,  ‘‘an  American  mare’s  nest.”  While 
he  has  without  doubt  collected  a great  amount  of  impor- 
tant information,  and  published  it  in  his  large  works 
and  lectures,  how  can  astronomical  occurrences  account 
for  the  condition  of  the  bed  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean, 
though  the  mythical  theory  be  everywhere  pressed  into 
service,  and  forced  to  apply  whether  it  will  or  not  to 
everything  everywhere  ? Astronomical  and  astrological 
facts  ought  to  be  taken  into  proper  consideration  in  an 
interpretation  of  the  mythos ; but  the  true  rendering 
of  the  subject  is  that  the  truly  wise  have  ever  known 
much  more  concerning  the  influence  of  world  upon 
world,  than  the  blind  scoffers  of  to-day  who,  after 
repeating  like  parrots  the  simple  formula,  “the  moon 
rules  the  tides,”  dismiss  all  further  knowledge  of  the 


80 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


interaction  of  planets  and  satellites  as  barbaric  folly 
and  gross,  unworthy  superstition.  Egypt  was  never  a 
genuine  parent  of  science.  She  seems  to  have  had  no 
growth  of  her  own  from  infancy  to  maturity ; but  in 
the  days  of  her  childhood  a powerful  and  wise  race  of 
conquering  invaders  came  in  upon  her,  and  established 
themselves  as  her  rulers  and  possessors.  The  original 
inhabitants  were  doubtless  much  in  the  condition  of  the 
American  Indians  and  Australian  aborigines  at  the  time 
of  the  invasions  of  America  and  Australia  by  Europeans. 

As  some  slight  account  of  the  other-world  theories  of 
the  Egyptians  may  be  of  peculiar  interest  to  our  readers, 
we  will  summarize  the  essential  teachings  of  the  Book 
of  the  Dead  ” in  the  following  brief  sentences  which  are 
in  no  way  quotations  from  any  Egyptian  manuscript,  but 
simply  a summing  up  of  the  general  teaching  concerning 
the  soul  and  its  future  experiences. 

All  the  wisdom-religionists  of  the  world  have  believed 
in  pre-existence,  though  there  has  been  considerable 
latitude  among  them  concerning  re-embodiment ; while 
transmigration  may  be  looked  upon  as  entirely  misun- 
derstood by  the  unlearned  at  large.  The  soul  is  con- 
ceived of  as  a pure,  innocent,  spiritual  essence,  con- 
taining within  itself  all  the  potentialities  of  life.  Its 
existence  in  paradise  prior  to  any  outward  expression 
is  exceedingly  difficult  to  define,  as  it  is  in  a state  of 
non-reflectiveness.  It  lives  and  is  content  to  live ; it 
does  not  inquire  into  the  why  and  wherefore  of  any- 
thing ; it  takes  life  as  a matter  of  course,  enjoying  it  in 
serene  innocence.  But  the  latent  possibilities  of  the 
soul  will  not  always  remain  dormant ; they  seek  expres- 


LECTURE  V. 


81 


sion ; and  when  first  this  expression  is  found,  the  soul 
creates  a lower  self,  much  as  the  play  of  Pygmalion 
and  Galatea  ” represents  the  sculptor  fashioning  a mar- 
ble statue,  endowing  it  with  life  derived  from  his  own 
breath,  and  permitting  it  to  choose  for  itself  whether  or 
no  it  will  follow  the  desires  of  him  who  fashioned  it. 

The  mystery  of  our  dual  selfhood,  of  the  two  I’s  ” 
of  which  we  are  all  conscious,  is  hard  to  deal  with  in 
satisfactory  terms  of  language ; however,  we  all  feel 
the  fact  of  double  desire  and  double  consciousness. 
This  secondary  self,  or  lower  nature,  needs  discipline, 
correction,  education ; and  when  perfected  becomes  the 
transparent  and  thoroughly  submissive  vehicle  through 
which  the  higher  soul  gains  expression  in  all  the  fullness 
of  the  term.  Man  on  earth  may  be  in  the  first,  second, 
third,  fourth,  fifth,  sixth,  or  even  seventh  stage  of  plane- 
tary expression,  and  the  marvelous  inequality  of  human 
life  on  earth,  though  all  life  is  essentially  one,  and 
derived  from  one  primal  source,  is  accounted  for  from 
the  fact  that  the  seven  planets,  or  spheres  of  progres- 
sion, are  not  regarded  as  orbs,  but  states.  These  states 
are  represented,  perhaps,  on  several  planets  at  once, 
in  the  different  degrees  of  manifested  life  common  to 
them.  At  the  same  time,  according  to  this  view,  the 
very  lowest  races  now  on  earth  must  be  considered  as 
living  through  their  first  round  of  planetary  experience 
on  this  earth,  while  the  few  exceptionally  great  teachers 
who  have  astonished  the  world  by  their  marvelous 
spiritual  and  intellectual  attainments,  have  manifested 
the  sixth,  and  in  the  highest  instances  the  seventh  stage 
of  expression. 


82 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


Re-embodiment  need  not  take  place  on  the  same 
planet ; it  is  possible  to  live  through  the  whole  of  one 
round  on  one  earth ; thus,  if  one  lives  the  life  which 
may  be  called  the  rung  A in  the  ladder  of  progression 
on  this  planet,  he  will  live  his  B life  on  another  world ; 
but  if  he  is  found  unfit  to  progress  through  the  inter- 
vening spiritual  spheres  to  the  next  planet,  by  reason 
of  the  exceeding  sensuousness  of  his  desires,  he  is  then 
compelled  to  take  on  another  earthly  form  on  this 
earth.  Reincarnation  on  the  same  planet  is  also  accom- 
plished through  intense  desire  to  do  some  special  work, 
and  thus  is  common  only  to  the  very  high  and  the  very 
low,  using  those  terms  with  moral  reference.  To  ex- 
plain this  planetary  chain  to  the  satisfaction  of  all 
readers  is  impossible  in  the  limited  space  at  our  dis- 
posal. Some  doubt  if  every  one  would  see  it  clearly  if 
volumes  were  devoted  to  its  elucidation.  In  brief,  it  is 
but  this : All  material  worlds  are  ultimatums  of  spirit- 
ual worlds,  and  on  any  given  planet  at  a given  time 
several  spiritual  states  are  ultimated.  There  can  be  no 
beginning  half-way  up  the  ladder  for  some  wdiile  others 
have  to  commence  at  the  bottom ; consequently,  those 
who  are  now  high  up  were  once  low  down ; those  who 
are  now  low  down  will  once  be  high  np.  The  Atlan- 
tian  race  may  have  been  a race  of  souls  who  had  lived 
out  their  lower  lives  on  some  other  planet,  and  were 
attracted  to  this  earth  in  the  natural  order  of  sequence. 
When  the  time  came  for  them  to  take  a higher  step, 
they  were  in  consequence  of  growth  superior  to  other 
races  whom  they  were  instrumental  in  elevating.  Every 
planet  affords  sustenance  during  the  various  periods  of 


LECTURE  V. 


83 


its  development  for  the  varied  races  of  men  as  well  as 
animals.  Life  does  not  in  the  case  of  every  unit  com- 
mence its  expression  on  one  particular  earth  and  remain 
with  that  earth  till  final  perfection  is  reached ; but  goes 
on  from  world  to  world.  In  this  chain  of  experience 
all  are  treated  equally;  thus,  if  any  are  living  an 
exalted  life  of  attainment  here,  they  have  grown  to 
preparedness  for  it  by  experiences  elsewhere.  It  is 
most  conducive  to  the  general  welfare  of  the  planetary 
system,  that  different  races  should  be  on  each  planet 
simultaneously,  though  at  the  outset  of  a planet’s  career 
only  the  lowest  expressions  are  to  be  found  upon  it : as 
it  progresses  it  affords  attraction  for  the  higher  races 
until  at  length  it  sustains  seventh-race  embodiments, 
and  has  by  that  time  reached  the  meridian  of  its  per- 
fection. This  theory  is  at  once  reasonable  and  just, 
and  most  certainly  deserves  to  be  treated  with  the 
respect  its  dignity  commands,  not  to  be  set  aside  with 
flippant  sneer,  and  stupidly  condemned  because  it  does 
not  coincide  with  the  narrowest  type  of  some  one’s  par- 
ticular orthodoxy,  which  may  be  heterodoxy  of  the 
worst  kind  in  the  eyes  of  his  next-door  neighbor. 

The  judgment  scene  in  the  court-room  of  Osiris  is 
most  graphically  depicted  in  the  Egyptian  scriptures, 
from  which  it  may  be  safely  inferred  the  Apostle  Paul 
borrowed  the  glowing  imagery  in  which  he  indulged  in 
his  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  for  there  is  no  extant 
Hebrew  records  containing  what  he  declares  is  ^‘writ- 
ten in  the  Scriptures.”  Corinth,  an  influential  seaport, 
contained  a people  who  traded  with  Egypt,  and  thus  it 
is  easy  to  see  that  a man  who,  in  the  best  sense  of  the 


84 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


phrase,  endeavored  to  be  “all  things  to  all  men”  for  the 
purpose  of  elevating  men  of  all  nationalities  and  creeds, 
would  use  the  records  most  familiar  to  his  auditors 
when  instructing  them  on  the  subject  of  the  resurrec- 
tion, concerning  which  the  Hebrew  scriptures  are  sin- 
gularly silent.  This  silence  is  best  accounted  for  by 
the  admission  generally  made  by  scholars,  that  when  in 
Egypt  the  Israelites  had  become  so  thoroughly  indoc- 
trinated with  theories  of  post-mortem  existence,  that 
their  best  moral  teachers  and  legislators  found  it  need- 
ful to  lay  the  utmost  stress  upon  matters  pertaining  to 
the  present  life,  as  concerning  the  future  world  they 
were  already  well  instructed. 

In  the  book  of  Daniel,  — a splendid  sample  of  Chal- 
dean Theosophy,  — Nebuchadnezzar’s  degradation  to 
the  level  of  an  animal  and  subsequent  reinstatement 
as  man  — a man  nobler  after  his  descent  than  before 
it  — may  be  studied  with  much  profit  by  all  interested. 

When  the  soul  leaves  the  body  it  finds  itself  in  an 
immaterial  form  closely  akin  to  the  vesture  it  has  laid 
aside  in  general  appearance,  in  the  audience  chamber 
of  the  utterly  impartial  judge  of  the  world.  This  judge 
is  seated  on  an  elevated  dais  or  throne,  after  the  manner 
of  Eastern  potentates.  Before  him  are  female  divinities 
blindfolded,  holding  scales  in  their  hands.  In  perfectly 
just  balances  they  weigh  every  act  of  the  soul  sum- 
moned to  judgment,  whose  fate  is  decided  absolutely 
by  his  own  acts.  Taken  out  of  its  venerable  archaic 
setting,  this  doctrine  is  a gem  of  the  purest  lustre.  We 
may  reset  the  stone,  but  nothing  can  dim  its  lustre  nor 
any  length  of  time  wear  out  its  suggestive  usefulness. 


LECTURE  V. 


85 


What  truth  needs  to  be  more  impressed  on  the  con- 
sciousness of  each  and  every  individual,  than  that  man 
is  the  arbiter  of  his  own  destiny,  and  while  judgment 
or  sentence  may  appear  to  be  pronounced  from  without, 
each  individual  really  passes  sentence  upon  himself? 
The  higher  spheres  of  paradise  open  to  all  who  merit 
entrance  therein,  while  the  darkest  states  are  but  places 
of  purification  through  suffering.  Transmigration  into 
the  bodies  of  lower  animals  was  never  taught  by  the 
enlightened,  but  in  every  case  the  human  entity  is 
retained,  and  however  a step  may  appear  retrograde, 
all  is  in  reality  advance. 


LECTURE  VI. 


EGYPTIAN  THEOSOPHY  {continued').  — THE  GREAT 
PYRAMID. 

So  much  has  already  been  written  and  said,  and  that 
many  times,  concerning  Egypt  and  almost  everything 
pertaining  to  it,  that  we  scarcely  know  whether  we  can 
offer  anything  in  the  least  new  on  the  present  occasion. 
Our  theme  is  old,  and  yet  the  interest  which  it  calls 
forth,  and  the  great  demand  at  present  for  condensed 
printed  information  of  the  Great  Pyramid  of  Gizeh 
and  other  ancient  Egyptian  marvels,  has  led  us  to  de- 
termine to  once  more  discourse  on  Egypt,  and  offer 
another  lecture  on  its  wonders  to  the  reading  public. 

To  deal  anything  like  fairly  with  an  ancient  theme, 
it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  approach  it  with  a mind 
entirely  free  from  party  bias,  or  one  is  almost  certain  to 
unconsciously  indorse  particular  theories  which  have 
no  real  justification  in  the  facts  presented.  Scriptural 
prophecies  and  references  are  often  immensely  strained 
to  support  foregone  conclusions,  and  with  all  respect 
for  Piazzi  Smyth  and  other  justly  noted  men  who  have 
striven  to  make  the  pyramid  testify  in  defence  of  or- 
thodox Christianity,  we  venture  to  affirm  that  all  sec- 
tarian interpretations  would  considerably  astonish  the 
builders  of  this  gigantic  pile.  Let  us  take  a glimpse  at 


LECTUKE  VI. 


87 


the  pyramid  first,  and  then  consider  why  and  by  whom 
it  was  erected. 

Pyramids  are  very  common  in  Egypt ; they  literally 
stud  the  delta  of  the  Nile,  and  they  all  bear  striking 
resemblance  to  each  other.  In  outward  appearance 
they  are  quite  similar,  and  the  Great  Pyramid  differs 
from  its  younger  and  smaller  brethren  only  by  reason 
of  more  imposing  proportions.  When  we  enter  the 
pyramids,  however,  we  find  an  amazing  difference,  the 
Great  Pyramid  alone  being  conspicuous  for  the  absence 
of  all  hieroglyphic  inscriptions  and  for  the  elaborate 
interior  arrangement,  which  is  more  than  sufficient  for 
a life-long  study.  Looking  at  the  pyramid  externally, 
in  its  present  denuded  condition,  it  is  not  very  attrac- 
tive to  the  lovers  of  the  simply  picturesque.  It  ap- 
pears stern,  majestic,  imperial,  forbidding,  colossal  in 
size,  and  hard  as  adamant  in  construction ; but  it  can 
scarcely  be  called  beautiful.  Imposing  it  is  in  the 
highest  degree  ; but  the  days  of  its  loveliness  were 
long  ago,  when  coated  with  pure  white  casing-stones  it 
shone  with  the  radiance  of  spotless  alabaster  whenever 
the  sun  shone  upon  it.  To-day  its  rugged,  naked  ex- 
terior suggests  to  us  its  long  and  tumultuous  history. 
It  looks  like  the  country  in  which  it  stands,  a splendid 
ruin,  a magnificent  wreck,  and  yet  by  no  means  an  en- 
tire wreck  or  a perfect  ruin.  In  its  despoiled  state  it 
calls  forth  both  reverence  and  regret ; but  it  evidences 
a solidity  which  defies  the  tempest,  and  declares  it  ever 
ready  to  reveal  to  those  who  will  patiently  listen,  a 
marvelous  record  of  days  that  are  no  more. 

Its  proportions  have  frequently  been  given,  but  as 


88 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


any  treatise  on  the  subject  would  be  imperfect  without 
them,  we  repeat  the  most  important.  In  height,  the 
building  is  about  480  feet  from  base  to  apex.  Its  base 
line  is  764  feet.  Interiorly,  from  the  entrance  to  the 
commencement  of  the  grand  gallery,  the  space  measures 
about  2527  inches.  The  length  of  the  grand  gallery  itself 
is  1881J  inches.  The  passage  between  the  grand  gallery 
and  the  king’s  chamber  is  about  55  inches,  while  the 
dimensions  of  the  king’s  chamber  are  about  412  inches 
in  length,  206  in  breadth,  and  230  in  height.  These  num- 
bers doubtless  have  astronomical  and  spiritual  meanings, 
which  the  sincere  student  of  Theosophy  will  soon  be 
able  to  interpret. 

But  however  interesting  and  important  its  outward 
appearance  may  be,  its  history  and  significance  are 
necessarily  far  more  so.  Why  was  such  an  edifice  con- 
structed? and  by  whom?  These  are  questions  ever 
recurring  and  very  difficult  to  answer  unless  we  con- 
cede certain  points  with  regard  to  the  affairs  of  the 
ancient  world,  which  quite  a number  of  reputed  schol- 
ars are  unwilling  to  grant.  Historically  considered, 
Egypt  is  doubtless  the  most  fruitful  of  all  ancient  lands 
to  those  who  cany  out  a well-arranged  programme  of 
archseological  research.  India  yields  far  less  than 
Egypt  in  the  monumental  line,  however  much  she  may 
have  to  teach  us  through  her  literature.  But  just  here 
it  is  appropriate  to  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that 
the  Hermetic  literature  of  Egypt  is  almost  precisely 
the  same  as  the  Hindu  Vedas,  both  in  literary  style  and 
esoteric  teaching.  A striking  resemblance  to  this  litera- 
ture is  notable  also  in  the  Book  of  Job,  which  scholars 


LECTUKE  TI. 


89 


almost  unitedly  regard  as  the  oldest  portion  of  the 
Hebrew  Scripture.  In  our  search  for  the  historic  as 
well  as  the  mystic  key  wherewith  to  unlock  the  mys- 
tery of  ancient  Egypt  and  its  most  stupendous  monu- 
ment, we  must  carefully  steer  clear  of  two  extremes  of 
opinion,  both  of  which  are  very  prevalent.  One  set  of 
extremists  claim  that  from  Egyptian  discoveries  they  can 
prove  the  Christian  gospels  non-historical.  This  asser- 
tion we  flatly  contradict.  The  other  class  of  extremists 
are  orthodox  evangelicals,  whose  desire  is  to  account  for 
the  Great  Pyramid  in  particular  in  a strictly  miraculous 
manner.  The  school  of  thinkers,  of  which  Gerald  Mas- 
sey is  an  able  representative,  is  so  carried  away  with 
the  exoteric  symbolism  of  ancient  Egypt,  that  state- 
ments are  made  by  it,  often  most  dogmatically,  which 
are  not  by  any  means  fully  borne  out  by  the  actual 
facts  in  the  case ; and  this  school  deals  so  much  with 
the  purely  astronomical  element  in  the  mythos,  that  it 
does  not  dwell  sufficiently  on  the  esoteric,  or  strictly 
spiritual  teaching  of  which  mythology  is  the  outer  shell. 
The  school  of  Piazzi  Smyth  displays  almost  total  igno- 
rance of  the  condition  of  the  real  ante-diluvian  world ; 
an  ignorance  shared  by  most  opponents  of  the  theory 
of  Atlantis,  as  put  forward  by  Ignatius  Donnelly  in 
his  truly  marvelous  and  highly  authentic  work  bearing 
that  title.  But  in  substantiation  of  the  truth  of  the 
theory,  it  needs  only  to  be  said  that  nothing  short  of  a 
direct  divine  miracle,  totally  supernatural  in  character, 
is  ever  brought  forward  by  the  orthodox  Christian  party 
to  account  for  the  Great  Pyramid,  independent  of  the 
supposition  of  an  Atlantis  or  its  practical  working 


90 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


equivalent.  That  strange  and  valuable  book  (now  out 
of  print),  “ Art  Magic,”  gives  a very  plausible,  and  in 
some  respects  ample,  sketch  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  who 
designed  it,  and  for  what  purpose.  The  explanation  in 
that  treatise  is  purely  theosophical,  and  to  this  we  will 
refer  more  particularly  before  we  close  this  lecture. 

The  principal  points  of  interest  in  connection  with 
Egypt  is  that  its  oldest  monuments  are  by  far  the  finest. 
Egypt  seems  like  unto  the  Adam  of  the  second  chapter 
of  Genesis,  who  appeared  first  as  a man  and  then  gradu- 
ally deteriorated,  instead  of  having  been  born  an  infant 
and  then  slowly  ascended  in  stature  and  intelligence. 
Hadaama  is  the  Hebrew  equivalent  of  red  men,  and  it 
is  singular,  to  say  the  least,  that  the  earliest  notable 
persons  of  whose  history  we  can  find  any  traces  in  Egyp- 
tian literature,  painting,  or  sculpture,  appear  to  have 
belonged  to  a powerful  red  race.  Now  this  red  race 
seems  to  have  invaded  Egypt  long,  long  ago,  and  to 
have  suddenly  established  itself  in  power,  introducing 
religion,  sciences,  and  arts  totally  at  variance  with  the 
crude  barbaric  condition  of  the  original  inhabitants. 
These  powerful  conquerors  must  have  been  the  gods  ” 
to  whom  James  Freeman  Clarke  alluded  in  that  unpar- 
alleled work  of  his,  “ Ten  Great  Religions,”  who  are 
said  to  have  reigned  over  Egypt  for  a continuous  period 
of  13,900  years.  Then  came  the  reign  of  demi-gods, 
and  later  on  the  Pharaohs,  or  native  princes,  who  in 
their  turn  were  overthrown  by  the  Persians,  who  were 
followed  by  Greeks,  Romans,  and  Turks,  until  recently 
England  has  appeared  in  Egypt.  Now  ^‘gods,”  or  sons 
of  God,  otherwise  designated  sons  of  Osiris,  sons  of 


LECTURE  VI. 


91 


the  Sun,  and  sons  of  light,  are  not  angelic  beings,  who 
assume  human  form  and  intermarry  with  mortal  women, 
as  many  fanciful  interpreters  of  some  parts  of  Genesis 
have  assumed.  They  are  simply  unusually  gifted  men ; 
and  with  the  gods  always  appear  goddesses,  or  equally 
gifted  women. 

These  distinguished  wise  ones  of  the  earth  are  not 
supernaturally  endowed  by  arbitrary  divine  appoint- 
ment, but  qualified  adepts,  the  successful  initiates  into 
the  genuine  mysteries  of  being,  who,  in  consequence, 
and  as  the  necessary  reward  of  diligent  and  long-con- 
tinued spiritual  study,  have  brought  themselves  to  a 
state  of  proficiency  in  both  spiritual  and  intellectual 
matters,  truly  astounding  to  the  uninitiated  multitude. 
Melchisedec,  to  whom  Professor  Smyth,  and  others  who 
share  his  views,  make  frequent  reference,  signifies  not 
a solitary  historical  character,  but  whoever  for  the  time 
being  is  the  head  of  the  inmost  and  profoundest  spirit- 
ual order  on  earth.  This  order  is  perpetual,  and  is 
always  composed  of  twelve  males  and  twelve  females, 
who,  wherever  they  may  be  on  earth,  are  always  per- 
fectly and  consciously  united  by  means  of  absolute 
spiritual  and  thence  electric  sympathy.  This  order  pos- 
sesses the  knowledge  expressed  in  the  pyramid,  which 
only  the  enlightened  can  interpret ; for,  while  astronomy, 
astrology,  mathematics,  and  geometry  are  employed  as 
its  exponents,  the  inner  meaning  is  so  deep  that  a merely 
scientific  interpretation  fails  to  reveal  the  spiritual  in- 
tent, and  though  doubtless  correct  in  the  main,  where 
astronomy  and  metrology  are  concerned,  fails  totally 
where  universal  spiritual  teaching  is  intended. 


92 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


The  first  step  out  of  the  fog  of  creedal  error  into  the 
light  of  spiritual  truth  is,  to  realize  that  spiritual  facts 
are  outside  of  time  and  space  ; therefore  they  are  super- 
sensuous,  super-historical,  and  super-theological.  For 
this  reason  materialistic  historians  and  theologians  in- 
variably misapprehend  because  they  limit  them.  The 
next  step  is  an  understanding  of  the  science  or  law  of 
exact  correspondence,  which  is  totally  different  from 
fanciful  allegory,  the  difference  consisting  in  corre- 
spondential  emblems  being  universal,  and  always  under- 
standable ; while  fanciful  allegorization  is  necessarily 
dubious  owing  to  the  artificial  and  non-persistent  char- 
acter of  the  objects  employed  as  types.  In  order  to 
make  this  portion  of  our  subject  plain  we  will  cite 
an  instance  of  correspondence,  and  contrast  it  with 
allegory. 

Jesus  says,  “ Consider  the  lilies  of  the  field.”  A lily 
is  an  accurate  correspondential  emblem,  because  a lily 
is  a fiower  which,  though  appearing  in  several  varieties 
of  form,  conveys  a definite  idea  to  the  mind,  as  it 
always  grows  in  the  same  way,  and  presents  a similar 
appearance.  A table  or  a chair,  for  instance,  indeed 
any  article  of  human  manufacture,  is  not  truly  a corre- 
spondence, because  it  is  nothing  invariably  persistent  in 
nature,  being  incidental  to  man’s  condition  or  a part  of 
his  surroundings  in  one  country  and  not  in  another. 
The  highest  of  all  correspondences  are  the  parts  of  the 
human  body  which  always  appear  in  the  same  relations 
and  exist  for  the  same  purpose.  Another  very  high 
order  of  correspondences  are  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars, 
which  always  appear  in  the  heavens,  and  perform  regu- 


LECTURE  VI. 


93 


lar  revolutions.  Solar  worship  was  originally  the  very 
highest  and  purest  form  of  worship  known  to  man. 
The  ancients  understood  what  Swedenborg  in  the 
eighteenth  century  again  brought  to  light ; they  knew 
and  taught  that  the  heavens  were  in  the  human  form, 
and  that  in  man  is  to  be  found  a perfect  correspondence 
to  all  the  signs  of  the  zodiac.  In  the  wisdom-religion 
of  antiquity,  Alcyone,  the  central  star  in  the  constella- 
tion known  as  the  Pleiades,  was  the  fitly  chosen  symbol 
of  the  Divine  Mind,  to  which  the  immortal  life  of  man 
directly  corresponds.  The  sun  in  traveling  around 
Alcyone  passes  through  the  twelve  zodiacal  signs  once 
in  every  period  of  about  25,840  years,  as  the  earth 
passes  through  the  same  twelve  signs  in  its  every 
annual  revolution  of  a little  more  than  365  days.  These 
twelve  signs  are  corresponded  to  in  man  by  the  twelve 
orders  or  groups  of  intellectual  faculties  which  can  be 
distinctly  traced  and  defined.  The  Grand  Pyramid  was 
designed  to  memorialize  for  all  time  the  exact  science  of 
man  in  his  relation  to  the  universe,  which  its  designer 
must  have  pretty  thoroughly  understood.  The  apex 
points  directly  to  Alcyone,  which  symbolizes  the  ever- 
upward  glancing  of  the  soul  to  God,  the  parent  of  all 
intelligence.  The  interior  construction  of  the  pyramid 
is  marvelous  and  unique,  and  suggests  very  much  more 
than  any  simple  metrologist,  astronomer,  or  ordinary 
theologian  can  detect,  as  it  portrays  in  perfect  propor- 
tions the  scenes  through  which  every  soul  must  pass 
during  its  journey  from  infancy  to  maturity.  Only  the 
true  adepts  of  the  highest  rank,  masons  of  the  first 
order,  can  interpret  the  pyramid  theosophically,  as  its 


94 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


occult  meaning  is  deeply  and  purposely  veiled  from  all 
others,  though  clearly  revealed  to  those  who  can  read 
the  hieroglyphics  of  the  universal  lodge,  which  are 
simple  and  accurate  geometrical  proportions  and  mathe- 
matical figures. 

The  entrance  to  the  pyramid,  as  doubtless  all  are 
aware,  is  at  the  north  side  only,  and  while  many  endeav- 
ors had  previously  been  made  to  force  an  entrance,  El 
Mamoun  was  the  first  to  enter  within  its  walls ; whether 
through  some  unusual  knowledge  or  by  accident  he 
discovered  the  entrance,  is  a matter  of  speculation. 
When  the  entrance  is  once  found,  exploration  of  the 
interior  is  not  easy,  for  the  method  of  construction  is 
so  strange,  and  the  facilities  for  travel  so  meagre  in 
many  places,  that  it  was  long  after  the  entrance  was 
gained  that  any  one  was  hazardous  and  successful 
enough  to  glean  much  definite  information  concerning 
it.  El  Mamoun’s  forced  hole  led  to  the  descending 
entrance  passage  by  means  of  a toilsome  road;  but 
there  is,  higher  up,  a perfect  entrance  passage,  985 
pyramid  inches  in  length,  that  conducts  the  explorer 
immediately  to  a granite  portcullis,  which  is  at  the  junc- 
ture of  the  first  ascending  and  first  descending  passages. 
The  descending  entrance  passage  leading  to  the  subter- 
ranean chamber,  the  object  of  which  seems  deeply  mys- 
terious, is,  according  to  the  most  authentic  estimation, 
about  4446  inches.  The  subterranean  chamber  is  at  a 
considerable  distance  above  the  high-level  watermark  of 
the  Nile ; but  before  it  is  reached  a deep  well  is  encoun- 
tered, with  which  there  is  communication  from  the 
point  of  juncture  of  the  first  ascending  passage  (length 


LECTURE  VI. 


95 


1542  inches)  with  the  grand  gallery  leading  to  the 
king’s  chamber,  and  the  horizontal  passage  leading  to 
the  queen’s  chamber.  The  subterranean  chamber  was, 
without  doubt,  the  scene  of  the  profoundest  mystic 
rites  many  thousands  of  years  ago,  for  it  is  almost  im- 
possible to  doubt  that  the  most  sublime  and  awful 
religious  ceremonies  were  carried  on  within  its  walls ; 
rites,  the  very  mention  of  which  would  startle  and  con- 
found any  save  those  whose  knowledge  of  the  deep 
things  of  Theosophy  is  infinitely  beyond  the  average 
attainment  of  those  who  just  venture  to  peep  curiously 
over  the  brink  of  the  occult.  The  grand  gallery  has 
been  for  several  years  past  the  subject  of  much  inter- 
est, as  its  length,  1881J  inches,  has  pointed,  many  think, 
with  remarkable  clearness  to  midsummer,  1882,  when 
Lady  Caithness  and  other  eminent  writers  and  thinkers 
consider  anno  domini  (the  age  of  the  lord)  came  to  an 
end  and  anno  domince  (the  age  of  the  lady)  commenced. 
This,  then,  is  woman’s  era,  and  man’s  monopoly  is  at 
an  end. 

Let  us  take  a hurried  glance  at  the  grand  gallery, 
and  gazing  upon  its  majestic  proportions  see  if  we  cannot 
gain  some  clew  as  to  its  inner  meaning.  This  gallery  is 
long,  light,  handsome,  and  vaulted ; but,  like  all  other 
portions  of  the  pyramid,  utterly  destitute  of  ornamen- 
tation. It  terminates  abruptly  in  a most  extraordinary 
manner,  as  it  leads  directly  into  a narrow  passage  ex- 
tremely difficult  to  travel,  into  the  king’s  chamber,  which 
is  doubtless  the  most  important  and  significant  of  all 
the  chambers  in  the  pyramid,  as  it  contains  simply  a lid- 
less sarcophagus,  eminently  suggestive  of  the  unveiling 


96 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


of  truth  and  the  removal  of  every  veil  of  mystery 
when  the  hierophant  has  crossed  the  mystic  threshold 
and  stands  face  to  face  with  the  naked  truth  in  its  sub- 
lime majesty.  The  passage  through  the  difficult  way 
may,  however,  be  obviated  by  those  who  can  soar  into 
the  chamber  above,  access  to  which  can  only  be  gained 
by  ascension  or  flight.  To  those  who  reduce  everything 
to  a special  chronology,  the  narrow  and  difficult  passage 
signifies  the  present  period  through  which  the  world  is 
passing ; and  this  present  age  is  certainly  a time  of  uni- 
versal trial  and  unrest.  Still  there  are  those  who  can 
and  do  live  serenely  above  the  strife-laden  atmosphere 
of  the  lower  mind ; and  these  are  sheltered  in  the  sanc- 
tuary above,  while  others  less  spiritually  advanced  are 
toiling  painfully  along  the  weary  road,  till  they  at 
length  gain  admittance  to  the  king’s  chamber,  which 
typifies  a new  and  brighter  dispensation. 

To  those,  however,  who  see  in  the  pyramid  a uni- 
versal picture  of  man’s  effort  and  the  soul’s  destiny,  as 
well  as  the  fate  of  this  and  all  other  planets,  the  pyra- 
midal architecture  is  far  more  deeply  significant  than 
it  can  be  to  the  mere  chronologist ; for  all  questions 
of  time  and  place  are  far  inferior  to  those  relating  to 
the  progression  of  the  human  spirit  everywhere.  The 
metric  system  so  carefully  elaborated  in  the  pyramid’s 
construction,  is  to  the  occult  student  of  far  more  mo- 
ment than  a mere  literal  standard  of  earthly  weights 
and  measures.  That  reference  is  correctly  made  by  Pro- 
fessor Smyth  and  others  to  the  sacred  cubit  of  Scripture, 
and  that  false  weights  are  an  abomination  to  the  Lord,” 
we  certainly  indorse ; but  our  plea  is  for  a higher  and 


LECTURE  VT. 


97 


deeper  interpretation  of  the  pyramid  than  that  given 
by  those  who,  in  their  over-anxiety  to  prove  the  Bible 
literally  true,  well-nigh  overlook  its  spiritual  meaning. 

From  a theosophical  standpoint  the  pyramid  is  a 
monument  of  universal  import,  relating  to  the  deepest 
truths  of  spirit.  Standing  as  it  does  on  the  perfect 
square,  it  teaches  that  the  only  temple  man  can  build 
acceptable  to  the  Most  High,  is  a temple  whose  founda- 
tions are  perfect  equity  and  universal  brotherhood. 
The  square  stands  for  absolute  impartiality,  and  it  is 
not  a wrong  use  of  language  to  speak  of  a square  man, 
a square  transaction,  or  even  a square  meal,  when  you 
intend  to  signify  that  people  and  things  are  fully  as 
good  as  represented.  ‘‘Acting  on  the  square”  is  an  ex- 
cellent expression ; but  it  means  brotherhood  in  the  full- 
est sense  of  the  word,  and  this  is  the  foundation  stone 
which  the  builders  of  false  systems  of  political  economy 
have  rejected,  which  rulers  have  defied,  but  which  is 
yet  to  become  manifestly  the  headstone  of  the  corner. 
This  is  the  stone  which  grinds  all  injustice  to  powder 
in  the  day  of  its  might,  and  breaks  irretrievably  all  that 
comes  in  collision  with  it. 

The  triangular  form  of  the  pyramid  is  emblematic 
of  the  perfect  trinity,  the  three  in  one  and  one  in  three ; 
the  perfect  light  whose  color  is  white  but  which  mani- 
fests itself  in  the  threefold  radiance  of  red,  blue,  and 
yellow.  White  is  perfect  purity,  the  all-including,  but 
as  yet  unmanifested  life  of  being.  Red  is  the  masculine 
power  of  love,  the  generative  principle.  Gold  is  the 
color  of  wisdom,  the  mother  element,  in  whose  pure 
matrix  the  blue,  significant  of  truth,  is  miraculously 


98 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


conceived  and  born.  Osiris,  Isis,  and  Horns  are  the 
threefold  expression  of  the  one  infinite,  eternal,  name- 
less life  which  is  above  and  yet  within  all,  and  in 
whom  as  well  as  by  and  through  whom  all  existence 
is  possible. 

The  Egyptians,  invariably  sublime  in  their  concep- 
tions, have  in  the  Great  Pyramid  far  exceeded  all  their 
other  efforts ; and  by  Egyptians  in  this  connection  we 
do  not  mean  the  native  dwellers  on  the  soil,  who  at  the 
time  of  the  Atlantian  conquest  were  slowly  emerging 
from  primitive  barbarism ; but  the  descendants  of  those 
princes  in  wisdom  who,  whether  of  Atlantian  or  other 
physical  descent,  were  the  true  sons  of  light  by  reason 
of  their  having  completely  subdued  the  flesh  to  the 
spirit  and  walked  in  the  glory  of  an  illumination  which 
no  mere  external  culture  can  supply.  To  trace  out 
still  a little  further  the  object  of  the  pyramid,  let  us 
glance  at  the  telescopic  gallery,  a perfect  natural  tele- 
scope which  stretches  from  the  subterranean  chamber 
to  the  entrance.  This  perfect  telescope  enabled  the 
mystics  who  were  engaged  in  astronomical  as  well  as 
spiritual  studies,  to  receive  light  directly  from  alpha 
draconis^  which  was  the  polar  star  2170  B.C.,  and  which 
is  always  the  polar  star  at  the  time  when  some  very 
great  event  of  mystical  import  affects  the  earth.  2170 
B.c.  is  about  the  date  of  Noah’s  deluge,  which,  accord- 
ing to  occult  tradition,  signified  a complete  remodelment 
of  all  things  upon  the  earth,  and  previously  in  the  spir- 
itual states  connected  with  the  earth.  Professor  Smyth 
and  many  others  believe  the  pyramid  to  have  been 
completed  and  dedicated  in  that  year;  others  with 


LECTURE  VI. 


99 


whom  we  agree,  for  reasons  known  only  to  mystic  fra- 
ternities, place  the  date  nearly  26,000  years  earlier, 
or  about  30,000  years  from  the  present  time,  when  the 
position  of  the  stars  would  have  been  identical  with 
their  places  2170  B.c.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  pyramid 
displays  a knowledge  of  astronomy  on  the  part  of  its 
designer  wholly  incompatible  with  the  foundationless 
assumption  of  many  that  there  was  no  knowledge  in 
the  world  to  speak  of  until  very  recently.  Western 
sages  are  only  just  beginning  to  rediscover,  and  para- 
graphists  to  publish  as  new  revelations,  facts  better 
understood  in  the  ages  long  gone  by  than  by  any  mod- 
ern scientist. 

The  present  age  is,  however,  very  notable  for  the 
almost  universal  dissemination  of  knowledge  which 
characterizes  it;  for  though  the  actual  attainments  of 
the  past  may,  in  some  directions  at  least,  have  been 
positively  greater  than  those  of  the  present,  facts  cer- 
tainly have  not  been  so  universally  diffused  before, 
unless  it  may  have  been  in  the  palmiest  days  of  the 
long-sunken  and  well-nigh  forgotten  Atlantis,  to  whose 
actual  existence  the  bed  of  the  ocean  which  has  derived 
its  name  from  this  mysterious  country,  irrefragably 
testifies.  The  polar  star  is  ever  the  emblem  of  the 
highest  perception  of  truth  in  man ; it  is  invariably 
associated  with  the  keenest  and  loftiest  intuition ; and 
thus  to  turn  literally  toward  the  pole  star  was  in  the 
attitude  of  exact  correspondence,  to  turn  ever  for  light 
and  guidance  to  the  sense  of  right  within ; and  as  the 
star  in  the  heavens  is  so  far  above  us  that  we  have  to 
direct  our  glance  steadily  upward,  and  therefore  to 


100 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


divert  it  completely  from  the  earth,  so  are  we  taught 
by  wise  spiritual  direction,  to  become  so  enamored  with 
whatever  is  above  and  beyond  us  that,  forsaking  carnal 
pleasures  and  sensuous  delights  in  our  eager  quest  of 
spiritual  possession,  we  may  rise  effectually  superior  to 
the  snares,  entanglements,  distresses,  and  diseases  inci- 
dent to  all  that  is  conveyed  in  the  terms  sensuality  and 
worldliness.  It  is  only  by  the  light  of  another  and 
higher  world  that  earthly  business  can  be  done ; “ one 
world  at  a time  ” is  an  insane  and  unnatural  expression, 
for  which  no  justification  is  found  anywhere  in  the  uni- 
verse ; for  where  have  we  an  example  of  a world  that 
does  not  borrow  light  from  a grander  orb  around  which 
it  perpetually  revolves  ? Still  the  time  may  come  when 
worlds  are  self-luminous ; but  then  their  relation  to 
other  orbs  will  only  be  the  more  intimate,  the  union 
more  intense. 

A comparison  of  the  Egyptian  pyramids  with  pyra- 
mids in  Central  America  furnishes  many  grave  argu- 
ments in  support  of  the  conclusion  we  long  ago  arrived 
at,  that  in  distant  times,  by  means  of  Atlantis  as  a 
central  land,  communication  was  open  between  the 
Eastern  and  Western  hemispheres.  The  pyramids  of 
the  Western  world  are,  however,  far  inferior  to  the 
Egyptian.  They  are  larger  (one  at  Pueblo,  New 
Mexico,  covering  about  forty-seven  acres  of  ground, 
while  the  great  Egyptian  pyramid  covers  no  more  than 
thirteen  and  one-half  acres),  but  very  much  lower, 
thereby  suggesting  a debased  type  of  architecture,  defi- 
cient in  grandeur  and  sublimity.  Divinely  tall  is  a 
poetic  simile ; but  who  ever  heard  any  thing  or  any  one 


LECTURE  yi. 


101 


spoken  of  as  divinely  short?  It  is  a striking  fact  that 
very  high  buildings  are  inevitably  connected  with  a 
high  degree  of  culture.  Where  very  few  are  civilized,  a 
great  artist  may  design  a solitary,  lofty  pile  in  a widely 
extended  district,  but  wherever  civilization  abounds,  the 
general  height  of  buildings  is  peculiarly  notable,  and 
there  are  no  examples  of  pigmy  races  of  men  displaying 
great  intellectual  vigor.  The  great  test  of  attainment 
is  symmetry  of  form,  good  balance,  fine  equilibrium; 
and  wherever  we  find  the  truest  and  most  thorough 
culture,  we  shall  behold  harmony  in  proportion  every- 
where as  its  concomitants.  Thus  are  we  led  to  admire 
the  exquisite  beauty  of  that  Greek  Theosophy,  derived 
from  Egypt,  which  will  form  the  topic  of  other  essays ; 
and  though  in  succeeding  chapters  we  shall  have  many 
words  of  unaffected  praise  to  bestow  on  the  Hindu 
religion,  which  has  too  often  laid  excessive  stress  on 
austerity,  a careful  comparison  of  the  best  features  in 
all  systems  will  conclusively  prove  that  the  highest 
teachers  in  all  lands  have  advocated  symmetry,  i,e. 
perfect  culture  of  morals,  mind  and  body. 


LECTURE  VII. 


ATLANTIS. 

While  there  may  be  no  absolute  historical  proof 
limited  by  that  history  which  commences  with  the 
period  of  Herodotus,  popularly  termed  the  father  of 
history,  who  is,  after  all,  only  the  father  of  the  most 
modern  history ; while  we  say  there  may  not  be  any 
direct  historical  proof  of  the  existence  of  Atlantis  to  be 
received  along  such  direct  lines  of  modern  history  as 
modern  scholars  usually  travel,  yet  the  testimony  of  the 
very  earth  itself  is  sufficient  to  convince  all  intelligent 
students  who  are  capable  of  making  an  examination  of 
the  bed  of  the  ocean ; while  all  the  mythologies  of  the 
world  and  the  most  ancient  documents  of  the  Orient, 
besides  the  traditions  of  the  North  American  Indians 
and  others,  all  go  so  far  to  substantiate  Plato’s  story 
and  to  confirm  the  general  line  of  affirmation  in  Igna- 
tius Donnelly’s  work  entitled  Atlantis,”  that  we  feel 
certain  an  impartial  and  critical  review  of  the  subject 
on  the  part  of  all  who  are  fair-minded,  will  bring  stu- 
dents to  the  inevitable  conclusion  that  there  is,  at  least,  ^ 
a large  probability  that  Atlantis  was  a fact  and  no 
fiction. 

From  the  spiritual  side  of  life  it  is  declared  that  the  ex- 
istence of  Atlantis  is  thoroughly  well  ascertained ; that 


LECTURE  VII. 


103 


there  are  multitudes  in  spirit  life  who  positively  know 
of  its  existence,  that  records  are  kept  with  most  faithful 
accuracy,  and  that  communications  are  forthcoming 
absolutely  proving  to  those  who  are  susceptible  of  such 
demonstration  the  fact  of  the  antediluvian  world.  We 
will  now  call  your  attention  directly  to  facts  in  the 
order  in  which  we  deem  it  advisable  to  present  them, 
and  then  leave  you  with  such  assistance  as  you  can 
derive  from  history  and  science,  to  indorse  or  repudiate 
the  testimony  here  given. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  whatever  that  the  world  is 
immeasurably  older  than  six  thousand  years  ; there  can 
also  be  no  doubt  of  man  having  existed  upon  the  earth 
through  periods  which  may  almost  be  termed  count- 
less ages.”  We  will  not  undertake  to  say  how  old  the 
human  race  is ; it  may  have  been  millions  of  years  since 
the  first  human  being  set  foot  upon  the  earth,  for  with- 
out doubt  the  story  of  the  earth,  as  many  geologists 
have  affirmed,  is  a history  of  a constant  succession  of 
risings  and  fallings  of  surface.  Many  geologists  have 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  a million  years  is  a very 
short  time  in  the  history  of  the  world,  for  such  periods 
as  are  sometimes  called  the  Primary,  the  Secondary,  and 
Tertiary,  as  well  as  such  other  periods  as  are  termed 
the  Silurian,  the  Devonian,  the  Carboniferous,  etc., 
have  occupied  ages  upon  ages.  An  eminent  geologist  in 
England  expressed  in  our  hearing,  that  all  events  which 
transpired  less  than  eighty  thousand  years  ago  might  be 
considered,  geologically  speaking,  recent,  eighty  thou- 
sand years  being  as  a mere  span  in  the  history  of  the 
earth,  for  since  the  days  of  the  fire-mist,  or  the  time  of 


104 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


the  primitive  chaos  (the  first  expression  from  original 
cosmos),  until  the  present  hour,  cycles  of  ages  must 
have  been  consumed  in  the  gradual  development,  peo- 
pling, and  civilizing  of  this  one  little  world. 

But  it  would  be  impossible  in  an  address  such  as 
this  to  enter  at  any  length  upon  the  story  of  the 
world’s  gradual  formation  and  development.  It  is  not 
our  purpose  to  carry  you  in  thought  through  long  geo- 
logical epochs  or  to  compute  their  duration  : we  simply 
remind  you  that  the  earth  develops  through  a succession 
of  spiritual  cycles;  these  cycles  are  each  divided  into 
twelve  lesser  cycles  ordinarily  termed  ages,  periods,  or 
dispensations,  each  one  occupying  twenty-one  hundred 
and  seventy  years  or  thereabouts.  If  the  average  dura- 
tion of  each  minor  cycle  is  between  twenty-one  and 
twenty-two  hundred  years,  and  there  are  twelve  of 
these  minor  cycles  in  the  grand  cycle  which  has  been 
termed  the  grand  year  of  the  Pleiades,  during  which 
time  the  phenomenon  is  accomplished  known  as  the 
precession  of  the  equinoxes,  you  will  perceive  that  a 
complete  cycle  embraces  nearly  twenty-six  thousand 
years.  We  believe  twenty-five  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  forty  years  is  about  the  time  of  the  duration  of 
each  grand  cycle  when  computed  with  as  much  accuracy 
as  is  possible  without  entering  upon  the  higher  mathe- 
matics. 

During  each  period  of  nearly  twenty-six  thousand 
years  land  and  water  change  their  places  upon  earth, 
and  while  there  may  have  been  a glacial  period,”  there 
is  no  doubt  whatever  of  there  having  been  many  glacial 
floods ; and  while  there  may  have  been  a time  when  the 


LECTURE  VII. 


105 


entire  world,  or  at  all  events  the  greater  portion  of  it, 
was  under  water,  still  all  races  have  their  stories  of 
deluges  which  were  simply  local  and  which  occurred 
long  after  the  earth  was  settled  by  man.  When  you 
were  children  you  all  heard  the  story  of  Noah’s  deluge, 
which,  according  to  the  chronology  of  the  Pentateuch, 
took  place  about  four  thousand  years  ago ; but  when 
you  consider  that  these  five  books,  commonly  called  the 
five  books  of  Moses,  only  relate  to  a very  small  portion 
of  the  earth’s  surface,  no  mention  being  made  in  them 
of  any  other  parts  of  the  earth  than  portions  of  Europe, 
Asia,  and  Africa  (nothing  whatever  being  said  concern- 
ing America  or  Australia,  the  eastern  parts  of  Asia,  the 
southern  parts  of  Africa,  or  the  western  parts  of  Eu- 
rope, all  this  territory  being  apparently  unknown  to  the 
writers),  the  story  dealing  only  with  the  Israelites  and 
with  the  nations  with  whom  they  fought  and  did  busi- 
ness, making  mention  of  no  other  territory  than  that 
associated  with  Israel’s  history,  you  become  convinced 
that  the  flood  which  occurred  nearly  four  thousand 
years  ago,  or  thereabouts,  was  nothing  more  than  a local 
deluge.  The  letter  of  the  story  undoubtedly  referred 
to  events  which  then  occurred  — doubtless  some  great 
natural  upheaval,  due  to  violent  earthquakes,  and  the 
encroachment  of  the  sea  to  an  unusual  extent  upon  the 
land;  at  the  same  time  vast  torrents  of  rain  poured 
down  day  after  day,  causing  great  damage  to  life  and 
property.  But  the  deluge  stories  of  all  nations  cer- 
tainly cannot  have  been  founded  upon  the  Israelitish 
record  of  a deluge  that  occurred  comparatively  recently 
and  which  was  limited  to  a very  narrow  area.  You 


106 


STUDIES  IK  THEOSOPHY. 


will  find  on  inquiry  that  many  a nation  which  appar- 
ently never  had  communication  with  the  Hebrews  has 
preserved  faithfully  the  record  of  a great  deluge  which 
occurred  long,  long  ago;  and  though  it  has  been  cus- 
tomary for  many  centuries  among  the  orthodox  both  in 
Israel  and  Christendom,  to  deny  everything  that  has 
appeared  to  conflict  with  the  literal  history  of  the  Bible, 
no  scientist,  scholar,  profound  philosopher,  or  liberal 
religionist  is  in  any  way  limited  in  his  acceptance  of 
universal  testimony  to  an  event  occurring  long  ago,  by 
any  alleged  divine  revelation  concerning  the  compara- 
tive youth  of  the  world,  as  geology  has  gone  far  to 
prove  that  the  world  is  millions  of  years  old  instead  of 
only  a few  thousands,  while  testimony  is  accumulating 
daily  proving  man  to  be  so  ancient  an  inhabitant  of  the 
world  that  his  real  antiquity  is  a matter  of  doubt,  it 
reaching  so  far  into  prehistoric  ages.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  whatsoever  that  the  legends  of  all  nations  have 
been  founded  upon  historical  facts,  that  all  mythologies 
have  historical  and  biographical,  as  well  as  scientific, 
spiritual,  and  philosophical  elements  within  them ; the 
question  therefore  at  once  arises.  From  what  primal 
fount  did  the  idea  of  a universal  deluge  enter  into  all 
ancient  literature  and  possess  the  minds  of  all  nations 
upon  earth? 

The  story  of  a universal  deluge  must  necessarily  have 
reference  to  a great  catastrophe,  which,  even  if  it  did 
not  affect  the  entire  world  to  the  extent  of  overwhelm- 
ing the  whole  earth,  must  have  so  far  affected  the  entire 
world  as  to  have  seriously  interfered  with  the  condition, 
occupation,  and  commerce  of  all  peoples. 


LECTUEE  VII. 


107 


There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  Aborigines,  both  of 
America  and  Australia,  are  the  degenerate  relics  of  once 
ancient  and  powerful  peoples;  no  one  can  study  the 
literature  of  the  North  American  Indians,  or  their  tradi- 
tions rather  (for  most  of  their  testimony  is  conveyed 
orally,  not  by  means  of  writing),  or  the  remarkable  cere- 
monies in  which  they  engage  connected  with  the  inter- 
ment of  their  dead;  no  one  can  study  their  beliefs 
concerning  the  future  world,  and  then  peruse  the  Her- 
metic philosophy  of  Egypt,  the  Vedantic  philosophy  of 
Hindustan,  or  the  classical  literature  of  Greece  and 
Rome,  without  coming  to  the  conclusion  that  there  is 
a truly  wonderful  similarity  between  the  traditions  of 
the  untutored  dwellers  on  the  North  American  prairies 
and  the  most  ancient  and  cultivated  people  upon  earth. 
With  such  testimony  as  ancient  scriptures,  classical  lore, 
and  Indian  tradition  can  supply,  all  deep  students  must 
become  convinced  that  there  wm  a time  when  Europe, 
America,  and  Asia  were  united  as  they  are  not  now 
geographically,  but  as  they  surely  will  be  to  all  intents 
and  purposes,  as  fully  if  not  more  perfectly  than  they 
ever  were  in  prehistoric  times,  when  commerce  and 
navigation  have  been  brought  to  such  perfection  as  to 
place  a girdle  of  fraternity  round  the  whole  world. 

You  all  know  that  in  many  places  islands  have  been 
known  to  suddenly  disappear,  especially  in  regions  where 
there  are  active  volcanoes  and  where  earthquakes  are 
frequent,  and  whenever  an  island  has  disappeared  in 
one  part  of  the  sea,  somewhere  else  an  island  has  sud- 
denly— apparently  miraculously  — made  its  appearance. 
You  all  know  that  whenever  the  encroachments  of  the 


108 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


sea  in  some  places  are  such  as  to  inundate  large  tracts 
of  country,  submerge  habitations,  and  drive  the  popula- 
tion inland,  at  that  very  time  somewhere  else  large 
tracts  of  marshy  land  become  dry,  and  in  some  places 
what  was  for  ages  the  bed  of  the  ocean  becomes  once 
more  the  habitation  of  humanity.  In  California,  and 
all  along  the  line  of  the  Pacific  coast,  there  is  a ten- 
dency on  the  part  of  the  sea  to  withdraw  itself ; and 
though  something  has  been  done  by  the  hand  of  man 
in  ‘‘making  land,”  human  art  and  ingenuity  having 
redeemed  some  land  from  the  waters,  yet  instead  of  the 
sea  when  left  to  itself  gaining  upon  the  land,  it  is  un- 
questionably assisting  man’s  endeavors  to  extend  the 
land.  We  predict  the  time  will  not  be  very  long  before 
the  waters  of  the  Pacific  Ocean  will  retreat  several 
miles  from  where  they  now  usually  flow,  and  there  will 
arise  a beautiful  and  fertile  tract  of  country  extending 
far  into  what  is  now  the  ocean.  But  on  the  extreme 
eastern  coast,  especially  in  the  State  of  Maine,  it  is  ob- 
served that  many  farms  once  high  and  dry  are  now 
under  water.  The  water  is  constantly  encroaching 
upon  the  eastern  shores  of  the  American  continent  and 
retreating  from  the  western ; and  as  the  march  of  civili- 
zation and  progress  is  now  constantly  westward,  it 
appears  as  though  the  current  of  human  thought  and 
enterprise  naturally  follows  those  natural  currents  which 
are  causing  new  lands  to  rise  in  the  West  and  the  sea 
to  encroach  upon  land  that  has  grown  old  in  the  East. 

You  know  that  it  is  necessary  in  Egypt  for  the  Nile 
to  overflow  its  banks  every  year  and  inundate  the  land, 
or  it  would  not  be  capable  of  yielding  crops ; hence  the 


LECTURE  VII. 


109 


overflow  of  the  waters  of  that  ‘‘  sacred  ” river  is  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  human  sustenance.  You  also  know 
after  long  periods  of  excessive  cultivation  it  is  necessary 
for  the  earth  to  have  a period  of  rest ; for  this  reason  it 
was  wisely  prescribed  in  the  Jewish  law  that  the  land 
should  keep  its  Sabbaths,  every  seventh  year  the  land 
should  be  allowed  to  rest,  as  the  seventh  day  every 
week  was  given  to  man  for  rest;  whenever  the  sabbatic 
law  is  ignored  by  farmers  and  agriculturists,  the  land 
gradually  loses  its  fertility,  as  by  over-cultivation  and 
over-production  it  becomes  sterile,  just  as  man  by  over- 
exertion, the  loss  of  natural  sleep,  and  stated  periods 
of  refreshment  and  recuperation,  loses  his  vigor  and 
power  to  continue  labor. 

Whenever  the  land  has  been  excessively  cultivated 
for  a long  period  of  time,  and  has  supported  very  highly 
developed  races  of  men,  the  phosphates  have  been  gradu- 
ally removed  from  the  soil  into  the  sea ; and  when  those 
phosphates,  which  are  necessary  for  all  human  and  vege- 
table life,  are  removed  from  the  soil,  and  the  richest 
earth  has  been  carried  into  the  waters,  the  earth  be- 
comes practically  uninhabitable ; at  such  times  the 
waters  gradually  encroach  upon  land  and  undermine 
large  portions  of  the  soil.  There  are  many  currents 
of  water  under  the  earth;  there  are  also  currents  of 
fire.  If  you  could  see  deep  down  into  the  bowels  of  the 
earth  you  would  behold  connections  between  interior 
portions  of  the  earth  far  inland  and  the  ocean ; these 
are  reasons  for  streams  of  fire  belching  forth  as  they 
sometimes  do  far  from  the  centre  of  any  specially  vol- 
canic regions.  You  know  there  are  warm  and  even 


110 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


boiling  springs  in  very  cold  parts  of  the  earth,  in  Ice- 
land for  instance,  proving  that  there  is  underneath  the 
earth  a close  connection  between  rivers  of  fire  and 
rivers  of  water;  whenever  earthquakes  occur,  the  fire 
and  the  water  under  the  earth  have  together  produced 
the  phenomena.  Earthquakes  and  volcanoes  are  always 
near  neighbors.  Earthquakes  are  always  common  in 
volcanic  regions ; where  there  are  many  earthquakes 
there  are  usually  violent  volcanic  disturbances ; in  many 
places  where  there  are  now  frequent  earthquakes  there 
are  ranges  of  extinct  volcanoes.  Students  can  discover 
over  all  the  earth  many  indications  that  great  upheavals 
and  convulsions  of  nature,  destroying  large  territories 
of  land,  have  been  brought  about  by  the  collision  of 
fire  and  water,  two  great  necessaries  and  yet  two  deadly 
enemies  of  man,  if  man’s  life  is  regarded  only  from  a 
physical  standpoint;  but  when  our  eyes  are  turned 
toward  the  spiritual  plan  and  purpose  of  being,  and  we 
realize  that  God  manifests  his  presence  in  the  storm ; 
that  there  is  never  a period  of  inundation  or  strife  that 
is  not  followed  by  prosperity  and  calm ; when  we  realize 
the  existence  of  a spiritual  power  beyond  all  external 
laws  and  forces,  and  attribute  all  to  divine  power,  never 
to  accident  or  chance,  — nature  becomes  aglow  with 
divine  illumination,  and  the  spirit  of  God  is  seen  in 
every  movement  of  the  earth.  From  the  standpoint  of 
spiritual  life  we  can  observe  the  action  of  spiritual 
powers  in  peopling  and  then  unpeopling  the  earth,  in 
rebuilding  districts  long  since  rendered  uninhabitable ; 
and  we  thereby  come  to  know  that  every  distinct  centre 
of  civilization  is  a direct  response  to  some  special  need 


LECTURE  VII. 


Ill 


in  spiritual  life,  and  that  when  any  period  or  cycle  ends, 
the  first-fruits  of  that  cycle  are  gathered  in  like  gar- 
nered sheaves ; at  such  times  all  the  souls  belonging  to 
that  period  are  gathered  to  their  home  in  spiritual 
life. 

If  we  had  space  to  enter  more  fully  into  the  laws  of 
spiritual  life,  to  explain  the  existence  of  families  in  the 
spiritual  world,  the  distinctive  origin  of  the  various 
races  of  mankind,  and  prove  how  each  race  has  its 
distinctive  origin  in  spirit  and  afterward  in  material 
form ; that  the  negro  did  not  spring  from  the  Malay, 
nor  the  Malay  from  the  Caucasian,  but  that  each  race 
represents  a distinct  order  of  spiritual  life  manifested 
on  earth,  — we  could  trace  in  the  outward  history  of 
the  world  the  reason  why  one  race  after  another  rises 
and  falls,  and  why  a place  which  has  long  been  occupied 
by  one  people  will  afterward  be  occupied  by  another 
and  totally  dissimilar  race,  until  after  many  such  changes 
(generally  brought  about  by  natural  convulsions  of  the 
most  terrific- character,  also  somewhat  by  wars  and  pesti- 
lence, particularly  when  the  condition  of  the  people  has 
been  corrupt)  all  nations  blend  into  one ; then  when  all 
nations  have  blended  into  one,  the  paradisiacal  or  edenic 
condition  of  the  world  will  be  established  on  that  hemi- 
sphere or  in  that  zone  where  such  union  has  been  per- 
fected. There  can  be  no  doubt  whatever  that  upon  the 
land  where  civilized  races  are  now  living  there  were  once 
powerful  warlike  races,  who  gradually  grew  peaceful, 
then  in  an  age  of  deterioration  warlike  again.  These 
races  came  and  went  in  obedience  to  a direct  law  of 
spiritual  being  which  ordains  that  all  events  shall  be 


112 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


accomplished  through  the  precession  of  cycles  of  devel- 
opment. When  an  objection  is  made  that  there  is  not 
only  progress  but  also  retrogression,  we  answer,  that 
when  you  can  solve  the  spiritual  problem  of  life,  you 
will  KNOW  that  seeming  retrogression  as  well  as  seeming 
progress  is  in  reality  only  progress  in  the  true  sense  of 
the  word. 

What  do  we  discover  concerning  the  development  of 
the  earth  itself  ? Why,  that  everything  advances,  then 
retrogrades,  and  then  goes  forward  again  visibly.  There 
is  not  a summer  but  is  followed  by  a winter,  day  is 
always  followed  by  night,  there  is  never  a period  of 
activity  that  is  not  followed  by  rest ; the  glory  of  the 
meridian  sunlight  is  followed  by  a midnight.  But  why 
is  it  necessary  that  there  should  be  a night  following 
upon  every  day  ? a winter  after  every  summer  ? Why 
is  it  necessary  that  men  should  sleep  every  night  after 
a period  of  activity  during  the  day?  Why  is  it  that 
empires  fall  after  they  have  risen,  that  flowers  fade  and 
forms  die  so  soon  after  their  maturity  ? Why  is  it  in 
the  history  of  every  nation  under  heaven  as  well  as  in 
the  progress  of  the  earth  itself  there  should  be  a night- 
time in  every  cycle  as  well  as  a day-time,  rest  as  well 
as  boundless  activity  ? Surely  because  during  the  day 
period  of  the  cycle  the  activities  are  such  that  it  be- 
comes necessary  for  rest  to  follow  in  order  that  human- 
ity may  be  prepared  to  ascend  to  a yet  higher  plane. 
Surely  it  is  necessary  that  winter  should  come  in  order 
that  the  seeds  may  germinate  in  the  earth,  and  that 
darkness  follow  light  so  that  light  be  more  appreciated. 
In  all  great  pictures  the  background  is  dark  and  the 


LECTURE  VII. 


113 


foreground  brilliant ; contrasts  and  reliefs  are  necessary 
to  show  forth  the  splendors  of  the  artist’s  ideal ; shadow 
is  necessary  to  reveal  the  glory  of  sunshine,  adversity 
gives  the  highest  understanding  of  pleasure.  So  in  the 
entire  development  of  the  earth  and  of  all  races  of  men 
there  must  come  a night-time  as  well  as  a day-time,  a 
winter  as  well  as  a summer  in  the  cycle  of  unfoldment. 

If,  then,  you  behold  a bright  and  brilliant  day  ending 
in  a dark  and  awful  night ; if  clouds  gather  at  eventide, 
and  night  follows  rayless  and  starless ; if  thunders,  light- 
nings, and  earthquake  terminate  a day  of  summer  heat 
prolific  of  activity  and  prosperity,  remember  that  that 
brilliant  day  not  having  been  a perfect  day,  its  very  ac- 
tivities not  being  absolutely  perfect,  have  begotten  such 
conditions  as  must  of  necessity  be  removed  through  the 
agency  and  instrumentality  of  the  darkness,  rest,  and 
storm  that  follow. 

As  no  spirit  can  die,  no  intelligence  become  extinct, 
no  mind  perish,  no  idea  be  lost,  what  matters  it  if  the 
great  empires  of  the  world  are  buried  in  oblivion? 
What  matters  it  if  Caesar,  Alexander,  and  Napoleon 
shall  some  day  be  forgotten  ? What  matters  it  if  Egypt, 
Chaldea,  and  Babylonia  are  now  in  ruins  ? What  matters 
it  if  along  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  the  Ganges,  the  Eu- 
phrates, the  Jordan,  and  all  sacred  rivers  there  are  now 
little  else  than  abodes  of  owls  and  bitterns  where  at  one 
time  were  gorgeous  temples  and  splendid  palaces  ? 

Though  their  outward  forms  be  destroyed  and  are 
now  but  faded  flowers  and  withered  leaves,  only  the 
most  external  forms  have  died,  only  the  chrysalides 
have  been  thrown  off,  while  the  spirit  of  the  nations 


114 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


like  butterflies  of  immortality  have  wended  their  way 
to  brighter  and  loftier  climes;  and  from  that  glorious 
realm  of  spirit  whither  human  sense  cannot  ascend, 
triumphant  mind  reaches  down  to  the  earth,  offering  to 
take  us  all,  though  ever  gradually,  to  its  higher  state. 

All  graces  of  the  past,  all  voices  of  ancient  song,  all 
ideas  inspiring  ancient  artificers,  are  ever  ready  to  re- 
habilitate themselves  on  earth  with  a splendor  never 
known  in  days  gone  by. 

If  the  story  of  Atlantis  is  regarded  by  any  as  a fable, 
it  must  be  accounted  for  in  other  ways  than  those  which 
have  already  been  resorted  to  to  prove  the  narrative 
fabulous.  The  statement  that  Atlantis  at  one  time  oc- 
cupied what  is  now  the  Atlantic  Ocean  is  borne  out  by 
the  very  name ; the  ocean  has  taken  its  name  from  At- 
lantis, at  one  time  an  immense  continent,  but  afterward, 
when  reduced  in  size  through  gradual  encroachments  of 
the  waters,  only  an  island  of  moderate  dimensions ; also 
from  Atlas,  who  is  said  to  have  been  a mighty  ruler  of 
Atlantis  before  the  days  of  Poseidon,  from  whom  the 
principal  city  of  Atlantis  took  its  name.  This  great 
king  also  gave  his  name  to  the  central  state  of  the 
united  Atlantian  empire  of  olden  time,  which  was  di- 
vided into  ten  kingdoms;  he  was  afterward  regarded 
as  a god  in  mythology:  great  warriors  and  heroes  of 
antiquity  were  always  deified  after  passing  from  earth 
— even  Romulus  was  deified  and  numbered  among  the 
gods  because  he  was  regarded  as  the  founder  of  Rome, 
though  it  is  supposed  by  many  that  his  sudden  death 
was  a result  of  popular  protest  against  his  tyranny ; the 
‘^gods”  therefore  were  not  always  immaculate.  It  was 


LECTURE  YU. 


115 


customary  in  olden  times  to  give  the  names  of  great 
and  mighty  warriors  to  the  countries  they  ruled,  as 
well  as  to  worship  them  as  divinities  after  their  passing 
into  spirit  life.  We  say,  then,  the  very  name  Atlantic, 
derived  from  Atlantis  and  from  Atlas,  will  have  to  be 
accounted  for  in  ways  not  yet  attempted  if  the  story 
of  Atlantis  is  considered  a myth;  while  the  deep-sea 
soundings  of  the  vessels  Dolphin,”  Challenger,”  and 
others  in  the  waters  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean  have  abso- 
lutely proved  the  assertion  of  Plato,  made  more  than 
twenty-three  hundred  years  ago,  reiterated  from  the 
words  of  his  ancestor  Solon,  the  great  lawgiver  of 
Athens,  who  flourished  about  six  hundred  years  before 
the  commencement  of  the  Christian  era,  as  the  ocean 
district  bordering  upon  the  northwestern  coast  of  Africa 
and  extending  as  far  as  the  British  Islands  is  filled  with 
volcanic  debris  which  may  be  correctly  termed  mud  ” 
produced  by  sunken  land.  It  is  an  absolutely  attested 
fact  that  the  entire  bed  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean  bordering 
upon  the  coast  of  Africa  and  Europe  is  at  the  present 
time  in  such  a condition  as  to  prove  conclusively  that 
violent  earthquakes  and  volcanic  eruptions  have  de- 
stroyed countries  in  that  region  once  extending  far 
toward  the  shore  of  what  is  now  America,  while  the 
peaks  of  the  Azores  off  the  northwestern  coast  of  Africa 
are  without  doubt  the  mountain  tops  of  the  highest  ele- 
vations upon  Atlantis.  The  circular  motion  of  the 
Gulf  Stream  is  another  witness  to  Atlantis,  as  it  was 
doubtless  occasioned  by  the  water  flowing  around  the 
island  of  Atlantis  taking  an  almost  circular  form  from 
that  circumstance ; while  before  Atlantis  became  an 


116 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


island  (that  is  while  it  was  yet  a large  continent), 
there  being  no  outlet  for  the  waters  of  the  southern 
sea  into  the  northern  ocean,  extreme  cold  prevailed  in 
the  north  of  Europe  and  other  northern  climes,  which 
cold  has  considerably  abated  through  the  agency  of  the 
Gulf  Stream. 

The  glacial  period  in  Europe  was  no  doubt  occa- 
sioned by  the  cold  northern  ocean  being  shut  off  from 
the  waters  of  the  warm  southern  seas ; but  as  the  con- 
tinent of  Atlantis  gradually  wore  away,  as  the  encroach- 
ments of  the  sea  steadily  diminished  its  dimensions  and 
reduced  it  to  an  island,  the  Gulf  Stream,  flowing  from 
the  southern  seas  around  Atlantis,  warmed  the  waters 
of  the  northern  ocean,  and  by  so  doing  caused  that 
melting  of  the  ice  which  is  supposed  by  many  geologists 
to  have  taken  place  from  twelve  thousand  to  twenty 
thousand  years  before  the  present  time.  The  epoch 
when  Atlantis  was  submerged  must  have  fully  termi- 
nated the  glacial  period  in  the  northern  parts  of  North 
America  and  Europe,  while  the  more  southern  portions 
of  these  continents  must  have  had  their  glacial  era,  if 
at  all,  at  a period  of  almost  incalculable  antiquity. 

Let  the  reader  try  to  imagine  himself  a citizen  of 
the  ancient  world  occupying  a position  on  Atlantis,  say 
twenty-five  thousand  years  ago,  before  the  continent 
had  been  reduced  to  an  island,  for  at  that  time  Atlantis 
was  physically  connected  with  both  the  Eastern  and 
Western  Hemispheres.  Instead  of  there  being  then 
two  large  hemispheres,  the  Eastern  and  the  Western,  as 
now,  with  two  immense  oceans  between  them,  there 
was  an  immense  middle  continent,  that  included  con- 


LECTURE  VII. 


117 


siderable  portions  of  what  are  now  known  as  the  East- 
ern and  Western  Hemispheres.  Time  came  gradu- 
ally when  the  land  was  split  by  earthquakes  and  the 
gradual  encroachment  of  the  sea,  which  caused  land  to 
rise  from  the  ocean  both  on  the  eastern  and  western 
sides  of  Atlantis;  as  the  land  went  down  more  and 
more  in  the  central  continent,  it  rose  correspondingly 
on  either  side.  In  this  way  both  the  western  parts  of 
the  Eastern  Hemisphere  and  the  eastern  parts  of  the 
Western  Hemisphere  were  gradually  formed  prior  to 
the  time  of  the  submergence  of  Atlantis,  but  did  not 
assume  anything  like  their  present  size  till  after  that 
event. 

This  fact  will  account  for  the  presence  of  widely 
different  races  in  the  opposite  hemispheres,  races  who 
certainly  were  not  indigenous  to  the  soil.  There  is,  more- 
over, a wonderful  similarity  in  both  ih.Q  fauna  and  the 
flora  of  the  Eastern  and  the  Western  world;  these 
facts,  together  with  that  perfect  unity  of  tradition  in 
religious  and  many  other  respects  prevailing  in  the 
most  ancient  portions  of  the  Eastern  and  the  most 
ancient  portions  of  the  Western  Hemisphere  prave  very 
strongly  the  once  union  of  both  hemispheres. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  after  Atlantis  had  been 
to  a large  degree  separated  from  the  mainland,  ridges 
remained  connecting  it  with  the  Eastern  Hemisphere 
on  the  one  hand,  and  with  the  Western  on  the  other. 
The  course  of  those  ridges  can  now  be  distinctly  traced, 
as  they  are  not  very  far  below  the  bed  of  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  ; across  these  ridges  men  and  animals  must  have 
passed  from  Atlantis  to  the  Eastern  and  the  Western 


118 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


world.  The  inhabitants  of  Atlantis  and  its  animals 
could  pass  easily  along  the  eastern  ridge  into  Africa, 
thence  into  Europe,  and  thence  into  Asia ; and  along 
the  western  ridge  they  could  with  equal  ease  pass  into 
America : this  circumstance  readily  accounts  for  the 
close  resemblance  still  existing  between  the  peoples, 
animals,  and  vegetation  of  both  hemispheres ; such  simi- 
larity cannot  be  accounted  for  satisfactorily  in  any 
other  way. 

You  will  also  remember  that  the  earliest  stories  of 
Egypt  are  tales  of  unparalleled  glory  and  magnificence. 
Egypt  was  at  one  time  the  most  highly  civilized  colony 
of  Atlantis ; long  before  the  days  of  the  Pharaohs  or 
any  native  Egyptian  rulers,  you  are  told  the  country 
was  ruled  by  ‘‘gods.”  Many  and  many  an  ancient 
Egyptian  tradition  and  inscription  proves  that  they 
were  great  and  mighty  men  who  ruled  in  prehistoric 
times  ; they  are  represented  in  tradition  as  of  a reddish 
hue.  The  Hebrew  narrative  ultimately  traceable  to 
Moses,  who  was  educated  at  the  court  of  Pharaoh,  and 
therefore  acquainted  with  all  the  wonders  of  Egypt, 
declares  that  red  men  were  specially  created  in  Eden 
by  God : now  the  Atlantians  were  doubtless  a red  race, 
and  an  exceedingly  powerful  and  highly  developed  race. 
The  letter  of  the  second  chapter  of  Genesis  contains, 
no  doubt,  a record  of  Atlantis  as  well  as  the  allegorical 
spiritual  truth  we  have  endeavored  to  bring  out  further 
along  in  this  volume.  There  are  very  many  traditions 
in  Egypt  describing  the  overrunning  of  the  land  in 
very  ancient  times  by  a race  of  powerful  and  mighty 
red  people.  When  the  Spaniards  visited  Peru  many 


LECTURE  VII. 


119 


centuries  ago,  they  found  Solar  worship  there  in  its 
original  purity,  agreeing  perfectly  with  the  ancient 
Solar  worship  of  Egypt,  Persia,  and  India.  Now  Solar 
worship  is  the  true  worship  of  antiquity ; and  you  can 
account  for  the  similarity  between  the  Peruvian  and 
Egyptian  theologies  satisfactorily  in  no  other  way  than 
by  admitting  the  influence  of  Atlantians  who  crossed 
the  connecting  ridges  now  under  water,  and  traveled 
to  Egypt  on  the  one  side  and  to  America  on  the  other, 
leaving  in  both  hemispheres  almost  ineradicable  im- 
pressions of  their  civilization. 

Before  as  well  as  after  the  ridges  were  submerged, 
the  arts  of  navigation  were  thoroughly  understood  in 
the  ancient  world.  In  the  brightest  days  of  Atlantis, 
in  its  palmiest  period  of  palmy  civilization,  the  Atlan- 
tians or  their  descendants  must  have  built  the  pyramids 
of  Egypt,  and  also  those  wonderful  pyramids  of  Cen- 
tral America,  which,  though  not  quite  so  perfect  in 
form,  bear  a close  resemblance  to  those  of  Egypt.  Pro- 
fessor Smythe  has  declared  that  the  Great  Pyramid  of 
Egypt  was  probably  built  twenty-one  hundred  and 
seventy  years  before  the  commencement  of  the  Chris- 
tian era,  because  at  that  time  Alpha  Draconis  was  the 
polar  star,  which  must  then  have  shone  directly  down 
the  shaft  of  the  pyramid;  and  the  formation  of  the 
galleries  in  the  pyramid  proves  conclusively  to  astron- 
omers that  it  was  built  for  astronomical  as  well  as 
religious  and  other  purposes.  The  telescopic  gallery 
evidently  was  intended  for  purposes  of  stellar  observa- 
tion ; but  it  is  known  that  more  than  twenty  thousand 
years  before  that  date  Alpha  Draconis  was  also  the 


120 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


polar  star ; may  not  the  pyramid  have  been  erected  at 
that  much  earlier  period? 

Egypt  had  certainly  begun  to  deteriorate  four  thou- 
sand years  ago ; for  you  find  all  marks  of  its  highest 
civilization  carrying  you  back  to  a much  earlier  date 
than  four  thousand  years  ago.  Now  as  the  pyramid 
contains  in  its  secret  and  still  undiscovered  chambers  a 
great  deal  more  than  has  been  discovered  in  the  parts 
already  explored  and  concerning  which  so  much  has 
already  been  said  and  written,  we  declare  that  evidence 
points  to  the  fact  that  the  greatest  pyramids  of  Egypt 
are  between  twenty-five  thousand  and  thirty  thousand 
years  of  age,  and  therefore  carry  you  back  to  a period 
of  such  remote  antiquity  as  places  them  side  by  side 
with  the  buried  marvels  of  Atlantis.  At  the  time  when 
Atlantis  was  in  the  height  of  its  glory,  there  was,  doubt- 
less, a high  degree  of  civilization  in  Central  America, 
and  in  various  portions  of  South  America,  extending 
also  some  distance  to  the  north,  surpassing  any  civiliza- 
tion of  to-day,  but  not  reaching  to  the  height  of  the 
purest  civilization  of  the  near  future,  when  it  shall  have 
reached  its  culmination,  which  will  probably  be  less 
than  one  hundred  years  from  the  present  time.  Then 
will  come  in  the  natural  order  of  development,  the  co- 
operative commonwealth,  so  perfectly  outlined  by  Bel- 
lamy in  Looking  Backward.” 

It  is  stated  to  us  by  those  who  claim  to  know,  that 
about  twenty  thousand  years  ago  Atlantis  was  at  the 
height  of  its  power  and  sovereignty,  also  from  eight 
thousand  to  ten  thousand  years  before  that  time,  carry- 
ing us  back  from  twenty  thousand  to  thirty  thousand 


LECTURE  VII. 


121 


years.  After  a long  period  of  ever-increasing  prosper- 
ity, the  land  and  its  inhabitants  gradually  began  to 
deteriorate  and  decline,  until  at  last,  nine  thousand 
years  or  more  before  the  days  of  Solon,  according  to  his 
account,  Atlantis  was  overthrown,  as  Plato  graphically 
and  perhaps  somewhat  poetically  and  extravagantly 
states,  ‘‘  in  a single  day  and  night.” 

Before  that  time  the  better  element  of  the  people  had 
emigrated  to  other  shores,  leaving  the  land  in  possession 
of  the  less  enlightened.  Races  die  soon  after  the  emi- 
gration of  their  better  element,  while  those  cut  off  from 
all  other  races,  left  alone  in  solitary  grandeur,  soon  pine 
and  expire  in  their  isolation.  Probably  the  North  Amer- 
ican Indians  and  other  aborigines  have  deteriorated 
because  of  the  isolation  brought  about  by  those  natural 
catastrophes  which  separated  the  inhabitants  of  America 
from  all  the  rest  of  the  world. 

When  nations  begin  to  emigrate,  it  is  an  evidence 
that  their  country  is  on  the  declining  wave,  for  then 
the  power  and  vigor  of  the  nation  goes  forth  to  other 
lands.  It  may  be  to-day  that  Ireland  as  an  island  de- 
clines ; but  all  the  representative  element  of  the  Hiber- 
nian race  is  within  the  American  people.  It  may  be 
said  that  England  is  declining ; but  the  very  backbone 
of  Anglo-Saxon  civilization  is  in  the  Canadas,  Australia, 
New  Zealand,  South  Africa,  and  other  parts  of  the  ris- 
ing world.  It  may  be  that  Germany  will  soon  decline ; 
but  the  best  elements  of  the  Teutonic  race  cross  the 
ocean  and  form  an  important  factor  in  the  life  of 
the  United  States.  If  France  and  Italy  decline,  it 
will  be  because  the  best  elements  of  the  French  and 


122 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


Italian  races,  through  varying  circumstances,  have  de- 
parted to  other  lands  and  left  the  mother  country 
barren. 

There  is  nothing  really  lost  when  a land  is  over- 
thrown. It  was  not  in  its  highest  glory  that  Greece 
was  swallowed  up  by  Rome.  Greece  had  deteriorated, 
and  Spartan  bravery  was  no  longer  the  watchword  of 
the  hour. 

When  Rome  fell  she  was  no  longer  the  mistress  of 
the  world,  but  enfeebled  and  decrepit,  given  over  to 
vice,  and  so  emasculated  that  she  retained  but  the 
skeleton  of  her  former  grandeur.  When  the  fair  tem- 
ple of  Jerusalem  was  destroyed  and  the  Israelites  driven 
out  over  all  the  earth,  whatever  was  characteristic  of 
the  Hebrew  race  was  carried  by  the  exiled  Hebrews 
into  all  countries  whither  they  roamed,  and  they  still 
perform  their  messianic  mission  ” in  all  parts  of  the 
world. 

If  the  splendors  of  the  days  of  David  and  Solomon 
have  long  since  departed  from  the  sacred  shrines  of 
Israel,  if  India,  China,  and  Persia  are  no  longer  what 
once  they  were,  all  that  made  them  great,  all  nobility 
of  thought,  all  true  culture,  all  their  marvels  of  art  had 
fled  long  before  their  destruction,  and  these  are  rehabil- 
itated in  the  new  forms  of  the  modern  world ; all  civil- 
ization rises  as  the  phcenix  rose,  a young  bird  from  the 
ashes  of  its  parent. 

There  is  no  retrogression,  no  decline,  no  failure  in 
the  purposes  of  the  Eternal ; even  were  there  no  visible 
indication  upon  this  particular  earth  that  the  glories  of 
the  olden  .days  are  renewed,  still  when  you  turn  your 


LECTURE  VII. 


12B 


eyes  to  the  star-bespangled  heavens  by  night  and  gaze 
on  other  planets,  the  countless  starry  orbs  may  be  to- 
day (some  of  them)  the  scenes  of  the  higher  activities 
of  those  who  have  been  transported  thither  from  this 
earth,  there  to  express  higher  forms  and  engage  in 
larger  activities  than  they  could  conceive  of  before  their 
earthly  career  was  ended.  Arcadia,  Eden,  Hesperides, 
the  Olympian  Heights,  the  Islands  of  the  Gods,  and  all 
the  sacred  places  whose  names  after  a time  were  inter- 
woven into  Greek  literature,  expressed  in  mythology  and 
religion  in  the  cultured  Greek  world  reminiscences  of'^ 
Atlantis.  When  Plato  told  his  story,  he  had  gathered 
it  from  Solon,  who  had  obtained  it  from  the  priests  of 
Egypt ; not  from  the  Alexandrian  library,  — for  it  was 
told  before  the  city  of  Alexandria  was  founded,  and 
came  from  those  learned  cults  or  secret  orders  of  the 
priesthood,  who  afterward  committed  it  to  writing.  It 
is  certain  that  books  existed  before  libraries  or  book- 
cases, and  afterward  in  the  Alexandrian  library  ancient 
knowledge  was  preserved.  The  world  of  letters  had  in 
its  possession  accessible  ancient  documents  pertaining 
to  Atlantis  until  the  time  when  this  library  was  de- 
stroyed, several  centuries  after  the  commencement  of 
the  Christian  era,  through  the  vandalism  and  bigotry  of 
the  Mussulmans.  In  that  library^  was  registered  and 
perpetuated  the  ancient  knowledge  of  Egypt,  its  genius, 
literature,  and  art,  extending  to  far  ancient  times. 
Knowledge  has  always  been  preserved  in  ancient  orders, 
the  mysteries  of  knowledge  being  always  perpetuated 
in  many  a rite  and  symbol.  In  very  ancient  times 
mystic  orders  in  their  wisdom  deemed  it  unwise  to 


124  STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 

place  much  of  their  learning  in  any  outward  form  to 
insure  its  preservation ; but  later  on  the  Alexandrian 
library  contained  an  embodiment  of  that  knowledge 
which  Solon  received,  not  from  books,  but  direct  from 
the  priests  of  Sais  at  the  time  when  Egypt  was  a 
Grecian  colony.  Under  Grecian  rule  the  richest  treas- 
ures of  Egyptian  knowledge  were  conveyed  to  the 
Grecian  philosophers  and  afterward  transmitted  by 
them  to  the  world  at  large,  though  but  imperfectly. 
The  story  of  Atlantis,  recorded  by  Plato  and  received 
by  him  from  Solon  (one  of  the  greatest  lawgivers  the 
world  has  ever  known),  has  lately  been  fully  corrobo- 
rated by  the  bed  of  the  ocean,  stones  and  the  very  mud 
under  the  sea  confirming  the  statements  made  by  the 
learned  of  antiquity  concerning  this  fair  and  wondrous 
land. 

The  Atlantians  were,  unquestionably,  those  people  of 
olden  time  who  were  called  gods  and  goddesses,  and 
who,  because  of  their  godlike  form,  were  termed  giants 
among  men.  Atlantian  men  and  women  at  one  period 
— and  that  the  highest  in  their  career  — without  doubt 
enjoyed  perfect  equality,  so  that  their  government  took 
that  dual  form  in  which  it  must  have  appeared  at  the 
time  when  Egypt  recognized  the  divine  duality  personi- 
fied in  Osiris  and  Isis : both  in  government  and  religion 
the  feminine  principle  was  acknowledged  as  deserving 
worship  and  admiration  equal  with  that  accorded  to  the 
male. 

When  Bulwer-Lytton  wrote  his  Coming  Race,”  he 
made  his  hero  say  that  he  had  traveled  in  subterranean 
countries,  and  had  there  been  introduced  to  people 


LECTURE  VII. 


125 


whose  government,  religion,  and  general  customs  were 
far  in  advance  of  those  of  modern  Europe  and  Amer- 
ica : not  only  did  Lytton  look  forward  to  the  future,  he 
reviewed  the  past  history  of  Atlantis  in  the  popular 
guise  of  a fascinating  romance.  In  that  book  is  por- 
trayed that  higher  potency  and  dominion  of  the  human 
mind  over  the  entire  earth  and  atmosphere  which,  in  a 
period  of  sovereign  and  enlightened  spirituality,  enables 
man  to  prove  himself  indeed  the  lord  and  ruler  of  cre- 
ation. Those  wonderful  air-boats  in  which  the  Vril-Ya 
traveled,  those  wings  which  they  wore  upon  their 
shoulders  as  useful  (not  ornamental)  appendages,  were 
the  literal  originals  of  the  wings  upon  the  shoulders  of 
the  cherubs  and  angels  in  Christian  art:  the  winged 
beings  represented  to  the  world  by  artists  were  not  men 
and  women  whose  wings  grew  out  naturally  from  their 
shoulders,  but  men  and  women  thoroughly  versed  in 
the  art  of  aerial  navigation.  When  Jules  Verne,  for 
writing  Twenty  Thousand  Leagues  under  the  Sea,” 
and  other  sensational  works  peculiarly  pleasing  to 
boys,  received  a gold  medal  from  the  French  Academy 
of  Sciences  for  his  perfectly  philosophical  reasoning,  it 
was  because  he  not  only  gave  rein  to  imagination,  but, 
following  upon  the  traditions  and  inspiration  of  the 
past,  reproduced  to  a considerable  degree  in  his  stories 
a record  of  the  ancient  world,  even  though  strongly 
colored  and  largely  imbued  with  the  prophetic  and 
romantic  spirit. 

When  the  Arabian  Nights’  Entertainments  ” were 
conceived,  crowds  of  travelers  would  gather  together 
to  hear  the  praises  of  ancient  people  and  ancient  times 


126 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


recited  by  itinerants,  who  entertained  the  marvel-loving 
Eastern  public  by  reciting  to  them  the  wonders  per- 
formed by  the  use  of  Aladdin’s  lamp  and  other  marvels 
of  the  far  Orient.  All  such  stories  are  but  highly  col- 
ored tales  of  a far  past  when  a part  of  the  world  was 
brighter  than  it  now  is.  In  stories  of  the  long  ago,  in 
many  a wonder  of  architecture,  in  splendid  tapering 
spires  and  minarets  pointing  to  the  sky,  in  gorgeous 
gardens  upon  the  roofs  of  Oriental  houses,  in  majestic 
palaces  and  cities  paved  with  gold,  from  Noah’s  ark, 
the  simplest  and  rudest  structure,  to  the  symmetrical 
and  magnificent  temple  of  Solomon  — in  all  we  may 
trace  some  recollection  of  Atlantis.  Floods  sweeping 
over  the  land,  bringing  utter  desolation  and  disaster, 
and  the  ark  resting  upon  the  water,  in  which  a remnant 
of  the  human  family  were  saved,  carry  us  back  to  a 
period  when  Atlantis  was  in  all  its  power  and  glory,  a 
very  paradise  upon  earth,  and  then  to  the  sudden  end- 
ing of  its  bright,  hot,  glorious  day,  when  the  storm 
cloud  arose,  followed  by  a dark  and  awful  night  of  utter 
desolation. 

But  from  out  that  splendid  land  long  since  sub- 
merged there  has  arisen  to  the  world  of  souls  a glorious 
company  already  engaged  in  enlightening  mankind  to 
build  a new  Atlantis,  to  form  a brighter  colony  than 
that  of  yore.  And  when  America  is  again  united  with 
the  Orient,  the  ocean  bridged  by  perfect  navigation  ; 
when  commerce  and  the  arts  shall  blend  all  nations  in 
the  pure  chain  of  fraternal  relation,  and  the  new  repub- 
lic of  peace  shall  be  formed,  then  will  the  time  come 
when  man  shall  reach  out  more  fully  than  of  old  toward 


LECTUKE  VII. 


127 


perfection,  and  rise  to  sublimer  heights  than  Atlantis 
ever  attained.  To-day  men  realize  the  prophecy,  but 
only  in  its  dawning,  the  budding,  not  yet  the  opening 
of  the  flower. 

There  is  no  retrogression  in  nature ; all  is  progress. 
But  as  everywhere  summer  and  winter,  night  and  day, 
light  and  shade,  must  alternate,  the  most  appalling 
catastrophes  which  overwhelm  the  earth  are  forever 
fulfilling  the  purposes  of  the  Eternal  Good. 


Aspiration. 

Eternal  Fountain  of  all  beneficence.  Thou  who 
art  the  orderer  and  ruler  of  the  universe.  Thou  in 
whose  hand  are  all  the  events  of  life ; Thou  who  dost 
ordain  the  rising  of  the  morning  sun  and  the  shadows 
of  the  evening ; Thou  who  dost  call  forth  the  light 
from  its  hiding-place,  bidding  it  illumine  the  world 
with  radiance ; Thou  who  dost  fold  the  curtains  of  the 
night  about  Thy  sleeping  children  and  invite  them  to 
repose ; Thou  who  dost  speak  unto  us  in  every  sunny 
glance  which  lights  the  mountain  and  valley,  in  every 
star-beam  that  pours  down  its  radiance  from  the  glori- 
ous heights  above ; Thou  who  dost  speak  in  nature’s 
myriad  tongues,  inviting  man  to  Thee  with  all  her 
countlesss  voices ; Thou  who  dost  allure  the  world  to 
truth  by  every  form  of  nature’s  loveliness  displayed  in 
all  the  changing  seasons ; for  all  the  beauties  of  the 
earth,  for  all  the  loveliness  of  sea  and  sky,  — we  would 
give  praises  unto  Thee  ! 


128 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


Eternal  fount  and  sustainer  of  our  being,  in  the 
glories  of  creation,  in  the  wonders  of  preservation,  in 
the  marvels  of  reproduction.  Thy  power  do  we  behold ; 
and  when  destruction  spreads  its  gloom  about  us  and 
works  of  grandeur  are  reduced  to  their  parent  ashes, 
then  from  out  the  pile  of  ashes  cold  Thou  dost  revive 
the  world;  while  the  phcenix,  arising  from  out  the 
newly  kindled  flame,  jubilant  and  immortal,  typifies  the 
resurrection  of  the  spirit  from  the  tomb  of  sense,  as- 
cending beyond  all  death  forever. 

If  empires  rise,  then  fall  in  splendid  ruins ; if  magni- 
ficence departs  and  decay  takes  possession  of  ancient 
palaces  and  temples ; if  all  over  the  far  Orient  the 
lights  have  gone  out  and  the  altars  are  discarded  where 
once  Thou  wert  worshiped  under  the  sacred  name  of 
Brahm  and  where  Thy  servants  were  acknowledged  as 
the  messengers  of  Vishnu  the  preserver ; if  all  these 
splendors  faded  into  story  as  the  glories  of  the  Orient 
were  reduced  to  a name ; if  over  Persia  and  Hindustan, 
Greece,  Rome,  and  Egypt  the  mantle  of  destruction  and 
the  pall  of  darkness  has  fallen,  then  from  out  the  depths 
of  all  the  buried  cities  of  the  earth  Thou  dost  cause  the 
light  of  truth  to  arise,  and  from  the  buried  land  beneath 
the  sea  Thou  dost  summon  Thy  witnesses,  until  the 
rocks  are  eloquent  with  Thy  praises  and  the  stones  cry 
out  concerning  Thy  wondrous  works  of  old. 

If,  with  the  voices  of  inanimate  nature,  even  with  the 
voices  of  the  stones  which  men  have  piled  together,  the 
spirit  of  wisdom  calls  us  that  we  may  receive  instruction, 
oh ! may  we  in  the  midst  of  Thy  living  temples  of  human- 
ity, turn  from  the  dumb  idols  of  wood  and  stone,  from 


LECTURE  VII. 


129 


the  temples  that  lie  in  ruins,  from  the  deserted  banquet 
halls  of  ancient  kings,  to  the  glory  of  those  immortal 
habitations  which  can  never  be  overthrown  and  to  the 
splendors  of  the  life  of  those  souls  who  abide  forever 
in  Thy  keeping. 

Whatsoever  storms  sweep  over  the  earth ; whatsoever 
waves  inundate  the  land ; whatsoever  quaking  of  the 
earth  removes  the  cities  of  the  plains ; whatsoever  fire 
and  smoke  from  burning  mountains  shall  desolate  hu- 
man habitations,  may  we  know  that  Thou  art  in  the 
whirlwind  and  the  storm,  that  the  earthquake  is  Thy 
messenger,  the  flood  Thy  servant,  and  that  all  things 
working  together  for  good  will  at  length  reveal  to  all 
Thy  plan,  which  orders  all  things  for  the  best. 

As  we  turn  from  the  ancient  Eden  to  the  Paradise 
that  will  yet  be  revealed ; as  from  scanning  the  history 
of  the  past  our  eyes  turn  prayerfully  and  hopefully 
towards  the  future,  as  we  gaze  toward  republics  which 
shall  yet  be  established,  toward  the  purer  religion,  the 
milder  government  and  juster  laws  which  shall  yet  be- 
token the  presence  of  truth  enthroned  among  humanity, 
may  we  sigh  not  for  what  is  gone,  but  prepare  for  what 
is  yet  to  be,  knowing  that  the  future  glories  of  the  earth 
and  the  future  destiny  of  all  human  spirits  shall  sur- 
pass all  that  prophetic  eyes  have  seen,  and  transcend  a 
thousand-fold  all  wonders  historians  may  record. 

And  thus  in  earnest  faith,  in  the  confidence  of  love,  in 
abiding  trust  in  Thine  infinite  goodness,  may  our  hearts 
rest  secure  : may  we  never  fail  nor  falter,  but  fulfill  our 
mission  faithfully  by  proclaiming  truth  to  earth  and 
spreading  it  in  perfect  love  among  all  humanity. 


LECTURE  VIII. 


FRAGMENTS  OF  FORGOTTEN  HISTORY;  OR,  ATLANTIS 
‘‘  RECONSTRUCTED.” 

Many  persons  inquire : What  good  do  you  think 
you  or  any  one  can  accomplish  by  digging  up  ancient 
fossils  and  speaking  of  remote  antiquity,  of  races  of 
men  who  have  been  buried  in  oblivion  for  thousands 
of  years?  Why  not  confine  yourselves  to  practical, 
present-day  topics?  Why  not  deal  with  the  burning 
questions  of  the  age,  take  up  the  labor  movement  or 
some  other  matter  of  vital  importance  to  society  as  at 
present  organized  ? ” 

We  answer,  that  no  scientific  mind  ever  thinks  of 
doubting  the  desirability  of  studying  the  history  of  man 
in  the  far  past,  the  science  of  geology  and  kindred 
sciences  being  regarded  by  all  as  matters  of  the  utmost 
importance  in  a liberal  and  progressive  education  to- 
day. While  geology  deals  with  very  ancient  fossils ; 
while  this  natural  science  carries  us  back  to  remote 
antiquity  and  teaches  us  how  the  earth  has  gradually 
developed  from  primitive  chaos  until  it  now  assumes 
an  almost  spherical  form; ‘while  we  are  told  of  the 
habits  of  the  very  earliest  men  — yea,  and  of  even  the 
radiata,  who  swarmed  long  before  the  earth  could  give 
sustenance  to  man ; while  “ evolution  ” embraces  a study 


LECTUBE  VIII. 


131 


of  what  has  been  going  on  for  countless  aeons,  and  all 
students  of  nature  or  of  the  history  of  the  globe  are 
obliged  to  go  back  through  almost  incalculable  periods 
of  time  that  they  may  accumulate  the  testimony  which 
the  rocks  and  the  seas  will  give,  as  to  how  God  made 
the  world;  as  the  knowledge  of  cosmogony  is  one  of 
the  most  interesting  and  important  topics  of  the  day, 
we  may  well  ask,  why  study  geology?  Why  discuss 
evolution?  The  answer  comes,  we  can  both  regulate 
the  present  and  prepare  for  the  future  in  the  light  of 
past  experience. 

While  it  is  true,  indeed,  that  a wise  and  doubtless 
highly  inspired  apostle  recommended  his  hearers  and 
readers  to  ‘‘forget  the  things  which  are  behind”  in 
their  zeal  to  “ press  on  to  the  things  which  are  before  ” ; 
while,  without  doubt,  there  is  sage  counsel  in  the  com- 
mandment, “ Look  forward,  not  backward,”  still  before 
we  can  take  a forward  glance  we  are  often  obliged  to 
review  past  years,  and  no  one  can  say  that  experience 
is  nothing  or  that  the  knowledge  of  what  has  been  may 
not  be  most  serviceable  to  those  who  desire  to  correct 
the  errors  while  they  would  follow  all  the  good  exam- 
ples of  the  past. 

All  ancient  history  teaches  us  the  most  valuable  and 
important  lessons.  By  studying  the  doings  of  ancient 
peoples  we  are  enabled  to  see  ourselves  as  others  were 
in  similar  conditions  to  those  in  which  we  now  are. 
And  as  we  learn  that  all  ancient  civilizations  came  to 
naught,  that  all  ancient  empires  were  at  length  over- 
thrown, that  the  most  splendid  achievements  of  past 
centuries  were  hurried  into  oblivion,  and  that  civilization 


132 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


seemed  only  to  reach  its  highest  point  to  be  overthrown, 
we  may  well  inquire,  what  is  that  wonderfully  myste- 
rious and  seemingly  awful  law  which  ordains  that  as 
soon  as  the  flowers  are  perfect  they  should  begin  to 
wither,  and  that  as  soon  as  the  fruit  is  fully  ripened 
it  should  fall  from  the  tree  ? 

In  a beautiful  hymn  often  sung  the  statement  is  made 
most  sublimely,  — 

‘‘  We  do  not  die  — we  cannot  die ; 

We  only  change  our  state  of  life 
When  these  earth  temples  fall  and  lie 
Unmoving  ’mid  the  world’s  wild  strife ; ” 

and  then  the  hymn  closes  with  the  magnificent  refrain,  — 

“ Our  friends  have  only  changed,  have  sped 
From  lower  homes  to  homes  above.” 

As  we  said  in  the  previous  lecture  concerning  Atlantis, 
that  as  we  gaze  upon  the  starry  heavens  and  watch  the 
planets  as  they  roll,  we  cannot  reasonably  regard  the 
occupants  of  this  little  orb  as  being  the  only  intelligent 
creatures  in  the  universe ; we  cannot  feel  that  those 
ancient  and  majestic  globes  that  roll  and  shine  in  the 
distant  heavens  and  that  the  various  planets  in  this  sys- 
tem are  uninhabited,  while  this  world  is  the  only  world 
which  contains  intelligent,  sentient  beings  ; rather  do 
we  feel  in  the  progress  of  the  cycles  — as  wise  men  of 
the  East  were  wont  to  teach  in  days  of  remote  antiquity 
— the  soul  passes  on  and  on  from  planet  to  planet,  from 
system  to  system,  and  those  bright,  glorious,  and  aspiring 
minds  who,  while  they  dwelt  on  earth  were  always  scan- 


LECTURE  VIII. 


133 


ning  the  heavens  and  wondering  whether  those  bright, 
twinkling  stars  were  inhabited,  or  whether  man  could 
ever  visit  them  — we  feel  that  those  great  inquiring 
intellects  who  gaze  upon  the  stellar  worlds  and  desire 
to  know  all  about  them,  build  their  observatories  and 
place  their  telescopes  so  that  they  may  discover  what- 
ever may  be  revealed  to  human  sight  and  understanding 
concerning  the  myriad  worlds  in  space  — those  mighty 
intellects  are  destined  to  travel  among  those  starlit 
spaces,  destined  at  some  time  to  pass  from  world  to 
world,  to  navigate  the  oceans  of  space  and  explore  what 
would  be  termed  by  man  on  earth  the  farthest  corners 
of  the  universe.  Those  great  and  glorious  souls  who 
long  to  know  all  they  can  about  the  stars  are  the  very 
ones  who  are  becoming  prepared  while  in  earthly  life 
to  journey  through  the  universe,  and  when  they  have 
dropped  the  earthly  mantle,  clad  in  other  and  more 
glorious  form,  will  assuredly  pass  to  other  and  more 
glorious  worlds  than  this. 

There  are  no  instincts  in  the  human  mind  which 
are  beyond  satisfaction,  no  desires  eternally  destined 
to  remain  unsatisfied;  there  are  no  demands  of  our 
spiritual  or  intellectual  being  for  which  supplies  do  not 
exist  somewhere,  and  we  have  no  hesitation  in  saying 
that  a spiritual  revelation  has  already  been  made  to 
highly  inspired  seers  and  sages,  both  in  the  Orient 
and  the  Occident,  and  that  there  are  those  to-day  in 
America,  and  Europe  also,  who  are  holding  communion 
with  intelligences  who  speak  of  what  they  know  when 
they  declare  that  the  old  Buddhistic  doctrine  of  a plane- 
tary chain  and  of  souls  passing  from  world  to  world, 


134 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


assuming  new  and  higher  forms  with  every  forward 
stage  in  their  journey,  is  substantially  true ; and  these 
are  not  the  victims  of  an  overheated  imagination,  but 
are  the  recipients  of  spiritual  truth  wafted  to  their 
minds  from  higher  spheres. 

If  any  one  inquires,  ‘‘What  does  anybody  really 
know  about  the  lost  Atlantians,  or  about  any  pre- 
historic peoples,  wonderful  God-like  men  and  women 
who  were  the  models  after  which  the  Grecians  pat- 
terned when  they  erected  statues  of  fairer  and  lovelier 
human  beings  than  we  now  see  around  us?  Where  are 
those  great  and  mighty  nations  of  antiquity  whose  very 
habitations  have  been  washed  away  by  floods,  ruined 
by  earthquakes  and  storms,  and  now  lie  but  as  debris 
at  the  bottom  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  waters  ? ” we 
answer.  Turn  your  eyes  skyward ; gaze  upon  the  myriad 
worlds  that  shine  in  the  blue  expanse  of  heaven,  ask  of 
those  stars  which  the  telescope  but  dimly  reveals,  con- 
cerning which  no  adequate  information  can  be  obtained 
by  material  science,  at  least  with  reference  to  their  in- 
habitants, and  if  you  have  the  quick  ear  of  the  spirit 
and  hear  the  answers  that  will  vibrate  toward  you 
through  the  illimitable  spaces  dividing  the  earth  from 
those  distant  worlds,  as  swiftly  as  light  and  electricity 
pass  down  to  you,  you  will  receive  tidings  of  those 
races  of  mankind  who  have  graduated  to  higher  schools 
and  universities  in  the  universe.  Races  of  men,  families 
of  souls,  colonies  of  spirits  come  to  the  earth  to  fulfill 
their  appointed  mission ; their  destiny  is  slowly  out- 
wrought  here,  and  then  the  countries  wherein  they 
labored  and  which  they  perfected  by  their  toil  become 


LECTURE  VIII. 


135 


like  old  school-houses  from  which  the  scholars  have  fled. 
The  school-houses  may  fall  into  decay,  the  ediflce,  no 
matter  how  fair,  may  lie  in  ruins,  but  the  emancipated 
scholars  have  graduated  and  gone  forth  into  a broader 
universe ; all  of  them  are  learners,  some  may  now  be 
professors  in  those  great  colleges  which  you  call  other 
and  brighter  worlds. 

Not  only  is  this  world  a school,  but  all  worlds  are 
schools ; not  only  is  this  world  inhabited,  but  all  worlds 
are  inhabited  at  some  period  in  their  career.  All  are 
born  from  one  great  parent  source ; all  are  brought  to 
perfection  in  obedience  to  one  beautiful  laAV ; all  are 
intended  as  houses  of  discipline  and  education  for  im- 
mortal mind,  and  filled  with  probationers  for  a glorious 
immortality.  Such  is  the  mission  of  all  the  planets  and 
stars  which  stud  the  glorious  firmament. 

Therefore  it  is  not  ruin,  devastation,  or  failure  that 
overtakes  a world  or  any  portion  of  it  when,  having 
reached  the  climax  of  perfection,  it  afterward  fades 
away,  but  as  the  book  of  Genesis  tells  us,  when  the 
heavens  and  the  earth  were  completed  and  man  ap- 
peared upon  the  earth,  the  sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy. 
Why  did  those  sons  of  God  shout  for  joy  when  this 
world  was  sufficiently  far  advanced  to  sustain  human 
beings  ? Why  did  those  angels  and  archangels  of  which 
theology  teaches  give  praise  to  God  when  God  had 
made  a new  earth,  but,  because  they  were  evidently 
former  inhabitants  of  worlds  that  had  passed  out  of 
existence,  and  from  the  very  star-dust,  from  the  cosmic 
fluid  and  the  primal  chaos,  a new  world  had  been  born 
in  the  building  of  which  they  had  been  instrumental  as 


136 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


/ 


the  servants  and  messengers  of  the  Most  High,  rearing 
habitations  and  schools  for  other  souls  who  must  un- 
dergo experiences  similar  to  those  which  had  made  them 
great. 

And  so  whenever  a world  is  blotted  out  or  quenched 
in  flame,  or  whenever  a portion  of  the  earth  fades  out 
of  sight  (even  its  memory  may  lie  for  a long  time  for- 
gotten, buried  among  the  ruins  of  departed  ages), — 
when  its  forgotten  history  is  again  remembered,  and 
knowledge  of  ancient  days  is  revived,  and  men  ex-- 
claim,  Oh,  what  saddening  spectacles  of  decay ! Oh, 
what  pitiable  wrecks  ! Oh,  how  terrible  it  is  that  when 
things  have  been  brought  to  such  perfection  they  are 
surely  doomed  to  die  ! ” — angelic  choirs  chant  with 
exceeding  gladness,  Ah,  it  is  not  so  ; for  we  who  were 
the  inhabitants  of  those  now  deserted  haunts  have  been 
called  to  a higher  world ; and  when  the  spirit,  which 
kept  alive  the  earth  and  advanced  it  on  its  way,  re- 
ceded, it  journeyed  to  higher  spheres,  and  only  through 
the  withdrawal  of  the  spirit  from  the  outward  form  at 
the  time  of  their  death,  the  old  tabernacles,  no  longer 
vitalized  by  mind,  passed  away,  and  their  places  know 
them  no  more.” 

Let  us  look  back  upon  those  grand  old  people  whom 
we  call  Atlantians,  who  inhabited  many  thousands  • 
of  years  ago  that  glorious  land  beyond  the  Pillars  of 
Hercules  at  the  entrance  to  the  Mediterranean  Sea, 
spoken  of  by  Plato  in  his  wonderful  account  of  that 
ancient  world;  let  us  take  such  glimpses  as  we  may 
catch  both  from  inspiration  and  from  history  of  their 
manners  and  customs,  of  their  religion  and  general 


LECTURE  YIII. 


137 


condition,  and  we  shall  find  that  corroborative  testi- 
mony collected  from  an  immense  variety  of  authentic 
sources  will  lead  us  to  the  conclusion  that  they  were 
in  their  highest  culmination,  without  doubt  those  very 
remarkable  people  who  are  called  ‘‘sons  of  God”  in 
ancient  lore,  and  whom  the  poets  have  sighed  over  as 
the  fair  and  happy  beings  who  once  were  well-nigh 
immortal  upon  earth. 

There  are  two  directly  conflicting  theories  extant, 
(ix,  apparently  conflicting)  concerning  man’s  origin, 
growth,  and  destiny,  which  cannot  either  of  them  be  set 
aside  as  spurious  or  without  foundation.  The  one  the- 
ory is,  that  man  began  his  career  as  an  illiterate,  naked 
savage,  and  slowly  made  his  way  to  his  present  point  in 
civilization.  That  theory,  which  is  termed  the  evolu- 
tionary theory,  and  which  is  now  held  by  nearly  all 
scientific  and  philosophical  minds  in  some  form  or 
other  (subject  to  various  modifications),  seems  to  har- 
monize perfectly  with  all  we  can  understand  of  God’s 
goodness  and  of  the  infinite  wisdom  displayed  in  the 
scheme  of  the  universe.  Such  a theory  seems  to  har- 
monize perfectly  with  all  our  knowledge  of  the  laws  of 
growth  in  nature,  that  man  should  begin  a human 
acorn,  as  it  were,  and  work  his  way  out  by  dint  of  pro- 
gressive effort  until  he  becomes  a giant  oak;  that  he 
should  begin  as  the  very  tiniest  seed,  though  containing 
every  highest  possibility  of  future  development  within 
him,  but  only  through  ages  of  growth  become  as  a 
flower  in  all  his  expanded  beauty;  that  he  should  begin 
as  an  infant  with  the  most  rudimentary  intelligence  and 
scarcely  any  idea  of  Deity  or  the  soul’s  immortality. 


138 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


and  then  slowly  evolve  through  long  periods  of  time, 
religion,  government,  science,  art,  and  philosophy,  until 
he  becomes  at  length  well-nigh  a god  in  human  form. 
This  theory  of  evolution  fills  us  with  boundless  hope ; it 
enables  us  to  look  forw^ard  to  a future  far  more  glorious 
than  the  past ; it  teaches  that  paradise  is  before  and  not 
behind  us,  that  we  are  working  our  way  to  an  Eden 
that  has  not  yet  been  found.  It  fills  us  with  a bound- 
less confidence  that  our  dreams  are  all  to  be  realized 
in  days  to  come,  and  that  there  is  something  infinitely 
better  before  us  than  ever  lay  behind  us.  To  a great 
extent  this  theory,  commending  itself  as  it  does  to  the 
very  highest,  noblest  and  most  intelligent  sentiments 
of  our  nature,  is  indisputable,  it  is  supported  by  many 
irrefutable  truths,  and  is  beyond  cavil  when  judged 
either  from  a moral  or  intellectual  standpoint. 

But  while  we  may  glory  in  the  evolutionary  theory 
of  man’s  development ; Avhile  we  may  give  to  it  the 
palm  and  in  a general  sense  sincerely  believe  in  it,  — 
at  all  events  we  believe  it  to  be  the  nearest  approxi- 
mation to  truth  which  modern  science  has  preached  to 
the  world,  — we  are  compelled  to  admit  that  history 
and  the  condition  of  the  globe  itself  everywhere  points 
to  a forfeited  Eden,  to  a lost  paradise.  We  need  not 
turn  to  the  Bible  to  read  the  story  of  Adam  and  Eve 
expelled  from  a garden  of  Eden  in  Asia  six  thousand 
years  ago ; we  need  not  read  of  the  flaming  sword  held 
by  the  cherubim  to  deter  man  from  partaking  of  the  fruit 
of  the  Tree  of  Life  ; we  need  not  delve  through  wonderful 
stories  in  the  Old  Testament  and  read  of  a Deluge  that 
swept  away  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  with  the  ex- 


LECTURE  YIII. 


139 


ception  of  eight  persons,  about  four  thousand  years  ago, 
or  of  the  fire  and  brimstone  that  came  down  from 
heaven  and  destroyed  the  wicked  cities  of  the  plain ; 
we  need  not  read  in  history  of  the  fall  of  Rome,  the 
fall  of  Israel,  the  desolation  of  Nineveh  and  Babylon, 
or  the  sweeping  away  of  Tyre  and  Sidon ; for  no  trav- 
eler who  journeys  through  the  land  of  the  Nile,  or 
through  any  of  the  territories  watered  by  the  Euphra- 
tes or  the  Ganges,  and  contrasts  the  present  condition 
of  Egypt,  or  of  India  under  British  misrule,  or  the 
present  condition  of  the  Chinese  Empire  given  over 
to  degradation  and  idolatry,  with  the  splendid  teach- 
ings of  an  age  that  brought  to  light  a Buddha  and 
Confucius,  can  fail  to  perceive  that  the  earth  has  in 
many  of  its  parts  enjoyed  in  days  gone  by  a glori- 
ous history  which  is  now  scarcely  remembered  even 
in  name. 

All  the  eloquent  ruins  of  Egypt,  those  wondrous 
pyramids,  that  mysterious  Sphinx,  and  all  those  weird 
and  mystic  obelisks  standing  in  impressive  grandeur  in 
the  Delta  of  the  Nile,  point  to  a time  when  there  was  a 
race  of  men  in  Egypt  who  could  build  structures  which 
to-day  excite  the  attention  of  the  most  scientific  minds, 
and  are  well-nigh  beyond  decipherment.  We  find  in 
Central  America,  in  Peru,  though  to-day  the  native 
populations  are  degraded,  evidences  of  a glorious  en- 
lightenment in  the  far  past,  which  assures  us  that  all 
these  districts  have  once  been  centers  of  a civilization 
and  art  now  almost  entirely  forgotten. 

No  traveler  in  Rome,  in  Athens,  in  Palestine,  can 
possibly  pass  through  the  desolated  walks  where  once 


140 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


the  noblest  and  mightiest  men  of  earth  were  wont  to 
travel,  without  sighing  over  the  world’s  loss  in  their 
destruction,  and  exclaiming,  Oh,  if  to-day  things  were 
only  what  once  they  were  ! ” The  traveler  pours  forth 
a wail  of  anguish  when  he  gazes  upon  the  desolated 
splendors  of  the  earth,  and  yet  all  the  while  modern 
science  tells  him  that  progress  is  the  watchword  of  the 
earth  and  humanity,  that  everything  is  moving  forward 
to  a more  glorious  goal  then  was  ever  reached  in  bygone 
ages. 

Here  are  two  apparently  irreconcilable  stories  told 
by  the  earth  itself.  The  earth  says,  I am  advancing,” 
and  the  same  earth  in  many,  many  places  says,  “ Oh, 
how  sadly  have  I retrograded ! ” 

The  doctrine  of  evolution  is  positively  confirmed  by 
the  testimony  of  the  rocks,  and  by  a study  of  ethnology. 
But  at  the  same  time  the  story  of  a lost  paradise  as 
sung  by  every  poet  and  prophet,  is  eloquently  told  by 
the  very  stones  beneath  our  feet.  By  reason  of  the 
ships  which  to-day  go  forth  across  the  Atlantic,  and 
make  deep-sea  soundings  in  the  very  bed  of  the  ocean, 
thinkers  are  led  to  conclude  that  there  is  no  longer  any 
doubt  that  the  peaks  of  the  Azores  are  the  mountain 
tops  of  Atlantis,  and  that  for  thousands  of  miles  under 
that  wonderful  Atlantic  Ocean,  yea,  and  under  the 
Pacific  also,  we  may  find  the  remains  of  continents 
and  islands,  which  were  once  more  glorious  than  any  of 
to-day. 

We  can,  however,  affirm  this:  while  there  is  an  or- 
der of  circular  motion  in  the  development  of  all  things, 
while  night  follows  day,  rest  follows  work,  winter  fol- 


LECTURE  VIII. 


141 


lows  summer;  the  earth  is  progressing  all  the  while, 
and  taking  it  all  in  all,  everything  considered,  the  world 
was  never  as  well  off  as  it  is  now. 

We  are  now  in  the  spring-time  of  a new  cycle  ; we 
are  now  in  the  early  morning  hours  of  a new  day; 
they  who  stand  on  free  fair  American  soil,  where  their 
unknown  ancestors  trod  in  ages  buried  in  the  night  of 
prehistoric  antiquity,  are  carving  out  a destiny  for  fair 
Columbia,  infinitely  surpassing  that  of  the  palmiest 
days  of  old.  When  the  fruits  are  ripened  next  season, 
when  the  waving  corn  is  next  gathered  in,  when  next 
the  angels  are  commissioned  to  thrust  in  their  sharp 
sickle  because  the  harvest  of  the  earth  is  ripe,  the  vin- 
tage and  gathered  crops  of  grain  will  be  more  luxurious, 
if  not  more  delicious,  than  ever  of  old.  Civilization 
covering  a far  wider  territory  than  it  ever  covered 
before,  the  world  will  fulfill  the  prediction  of  Jesus, 
Greater  works  than  these  shall  ye  do.”  Not  necessarily 
greater  in  kind,  but  greater  in  quantity ; not  greater  in 
marvelousness,  but  more  widely  extended.  The  civili- 
zation of  olden  times  was  localized,  here  and  there  was 
an  oasis  in  what  might  otherwise  be  called  the  desert 
of  the  world;  and  though  such  oases  grew  larger  and 
larger  until  civilization  spread  over  wide  tracts  of 
country,  there  never  was  a culmination  in  days  gone  by 
so  glorious  as  the  culmination  we  may  now  anticipate. 

The  forward  march  of  the  world  is  accomplished  not 
only  through  the  day-hours,  but  also  through  the  night 
that  follows  day ; so  the  new  day  following  a departed 
night  is  a brighter  day  than  the  preceding  one  ; winter 
follows  harvest,  then  another  spring-time  and  summer 


142 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


result  in  a harvest  more  plenteous  than  the  one  of  the 
year  before.  And  so  there  is  indeed  a forward  march  of 
the  world,  a response  from  all  beings  to  the  Master’s 
great  cry,  Excelsior,”  a perpetual  response  to  the  invi- 
tation, ‘‘  Come  up  higher,”  and  this  in  perfect  accord- 
ance with  what,  at  first  sight  appears  like  a reversal  of 
the  order  and  a contradiction  of  the  doctrine  of  human- 
ity’s progression. 

We  maintain,  therefore,  when  we  take  anything  like 
an  intelligent  survey  of  the  world’s  history  and  cast 
the  horoscope  of  coming  generations  with  anything  like 
accuracy,  that  we  must  look  on  this  side  of  the  picture 
and  on  that ; on  the  side  of  seeming  retrogression  and 
on  that  of  real  progress.  When  we  do  so  we  shall  learn 
that  a new  and  more  glorious  life  than  has  ever  yet 
been  known  to  earth  is  not  merely  a poet’s  rhapsody  or 
a sentence  placed  by  an  enthusiastic  painter  at  the 
foot  of  a great  work  of  art,  but  a sure  and  solid  reality 
capable  of  application  in  every  national  and  individual 
case. 

In  Fragments  of  Forgotten  History,”  a work  pub- 
lished under  the  auspices  of  the  Theosophical  Society 
in  London,  by  two  Cheelahs,  the  statement  is  made  that 
there  were  days  long  gone  by  in  the  far  East  when 
men  possessed  seven  senses  instead  of  five,  and  that  be- 
yond the  senses  of  the  body  these  men  enjoyed  clear 
perceptions  of  the  spirit  which  gradually  were  lost  as 
men  became  more  and  more  materialistic,  thinking 
more  and  more  of  mammon  and  less  and  less  of  spirit. 
This  same  work  which  is  the  result  of  mystical  re- 
searches into  the  spiritual  as  well  as  the  physical  his- 


LECTURE  ym. 


143 


tory  of  mankind,  declares  that  the  various  powers  and 
senses  of  human  nature  were  not  developed  all  at  once, 
but  gradually  one  by  one.  Now  as  we  hear  that  there 
has  been  a stone  age,  a bronze  age,  an  iron  age,  etc., 
and  different  ages  of  the  world  have  been  characterized 
by  special  developments  in  all  departments  of  being, 
we  can  readily  understand  there  may  have  been  a 
mystic  period  long  ago,  an  age  of  intuition,  an  age  of 
wonderful  spiritual  enlightenment,  when  the  morality 
of  the  world,  at  all  events  in  certain  sections,  was 
higher  than  it  is  now.  We  may  assure  ourselves  there 
were  times,  now  long  gone  by,  when  people  realized 
their  nearness  to  the  spiritual  universe  as  they  do  not 
ordinarily  realize  it  now ; that  there  were  times  when 
the  gods  really  walked  among  men ; but  who  were  the 
gods  ? Those  mentioned  in  the  New  Testament  were 
simply  human  beings  upon  whom  the  spirit  of  God 
(the  Eternal)  came ; gods  are  said  to  have  ruled  in 
Egypt  before  the  Pharaohs ; Egyptian  gods  and  god- 
desses were  highly  inspired  men  and  women  whose 
spiritual  gifts  enabled  them  to  realize  not  only  scientific, 
but  also  spiritual  truth  in  wonderful  degree.  The  ac- 
counts in  Grecian  and  Roman  poetry  and  philosophy  of 
how  gods  and  goddesses  in  the  happy  days  long  passed, 
walked  among  men ; the  stories  which  are  told  of 
mortals  meeting  with  the  gods  upon  the  Heights  of 
Parnassus  and  Olympus,  and  of  mortals  hearing  the 
l3^re  of  Orpheus  play  when  touched  by  invisible  hands, 
clearly  prove  that  men  were  once  nearer  to  the  spiritual 
world  than  they  now  are.  These  tales  are  records  of  a 
holier  and  happier  age,  of  a period  when  the  earth  was 


144 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


young  in  this  sense  : that  the  beauty  of  the  unsophisti- 
cated spirit  of  poesy  and  philosophy  had  not  been  tam- 
pered with  and  sullied  as  much  as  now.  However,  that 
may  have  been  a period,  comparatively  speaking,  of  the 
world’s  infancy,  for  we  know  that  children  to-day  are 
often  far  more  alive  to  spiritual  visions  than  the  oldest 
gray-headed  sires.  We  know  there  is  a profounder 
wisdom  than  appears  at  first  sight  in  the  action  of  Jesus 
taking  a little  child,  setting  him  in  the  midst  of  the  wise 
men  of  that  day,  and  saying  to  the  sages : Except  ye 
be  converted  and  become  as  little  children  ye  shall  not 
enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.”  We  know  that 
childlikeness  does  not  only  mean  innocence  and  virtue, 
but  frequently  spiritual  illumination ; it  means  that 
intuitive  wisdom  which  fades  away  when  reason  dog- 
matically asserts  itself  and  intellect  claims  to  be  the 
only  ruler,  saying : ‘‘  What  I cannot  comprehend  is  not 
worth  knowing.”  We  all  know  that  in  a spiritual 
sense  a little  child  is  often  a sage,  while  many  a man 
of  science  is  but  an  ignoramus  spiritually. 

We  do  not  undervalue  the  achievements  of  material 
science,  but  we  do  say  an  age  of  intuition  in  the  far 
past  gave  to  man  a knowledge  of  spiritual  law  coupled 
with  a power  to  produce  aesthetic  art,  as  the  faculty  of 
instinct  enables  animals  (lower  creatures  than  men)  to 
act  unerringly  while  man  stumbles  and  falls.  Do  not 
animals  — creatures  far  beneath  you  in  intelligence  and 
dignity  — astonish  and  abase  you  by  knowing  more 
than  you  know,  or  apparently  so,  because  they  act  with 
foresight  that  you  do  not  possess  ? And  is  it  not  true 
that  man  falls  when  he  endeavors  to  walk  alone,  but 


LECTUKE  VIII. 


145 


when  guided  by  a power  beyond  himself  he  always 
walks  uprightly? 

We  are  not  prepared  to  say  that  the  Atlantians  or 
that  any  ancient  wonder-workers  of  either  the  Orient  or 
the  Occident  were  as  rationalistic  as  modern  scientists. 
We  are  not  prepared  to  say  that  intellectually  consid- 
ered they  had  come  to  that  perfection  in  the  develop- 
ment of  science,  literature,  and  art  which  men  of  to-day 
are  rapidly  achieving;  we  rather  look  upon  them  as 
what  may  be  termed  mediumistic  people,  guided  very 
greatly  by  a spiritual  instinct,  by  a subtle  intuition,  and 
by  a peculiar  receptivity  to  the  operation  of  the  spirit- 
ual nature.  Thus  we  find  associated  with  all  their 
achievements,  and  with  all  their  art,  names  and  forms  of 
those  whom  they  called  gods  and  goddesses,  and  these 
gods  and  goddesses,  though  originally  men  and  women, 
were  those  in  whom  spiritual  gifts  were  unfolded,  to 
a very  remarkable  degree,  and  who  held  constant  and 
open  communion  with  spiritual  states  of  life. 

Our  own  knowledge  is  derived  from  sources  which 
we  cannot  divulge  further  than  to  say  that  it  emanates 
from  those  who  positively  know  of  the  ancient  world. 
Atlantis  in  particular  was  the  primal  source  of  all  the 
splendid  literature  which  startles  the  world  with  its 
profundity  and  glowing  imagery,  that  has  been  wor- 
shiped as  sacred  but  yet  misunderstood,  as  its  inner 
meaning  has  not  yet  been  found  by  the  masses ; sacred 
lore  has  been  handed  down  to  modern  peoples  and 
committed  to  the  custody  of  the  nations  of  to-day  from 
the  very  ancient  prehistoric  races  of  Asia,  Africa,  and 
America  at  large. 


146 


STUDIES  IK  THEOSOPHY. 


We  have  no  doubt  but  that  the  Israelites,  borrow- 
ing their  wonderful  knowledge  from  the  Egyptians, 
acknowledging  Moses  as  their  leader,  Moses  having 
been  educated  at  the  court  of  Pharaoh,  acknowledged 
as  the  grandson  of  the  reigning  monarch,  when  leav- 
ing Egypt  at  the  time  of  the  exodus,  borrowing  from 
the  Egyptians  their  ornaments,  had  gathered  from  the 
Egyptians  that  wonderful  knowledge  which  they  em- 
bodied in  their  scriptures,  which  agree  esoterically 
with  the  marvelous  tales  of  Atlantis  told  to  Solon,  the 
Athenian  law-giver,  by  the  priests  of  Sais,  and  we  are 
sure  the  Alexandrian  library  prior  to  its  destruction  by 
the  Mohammedans  contained  in  priceless  manuscripts 
knowledge  of  the  ancient  world  transmitted  to  parch- 
ment. But  the  knowledge  which  men  suppose  to  have 
been  destroyed  by  the  Mussulmans  when  they  caused 
the  Alexandrian  library  to  be  burned  — because,  said 
they,  there  is  nothing  worth  preserving  but  the  Koran ; 
and  if  the  statements  in  these  books  are  not  in  harmony 
with  the  Koran,  they  are  false ; and  if  they  are  in  har- 
mony, we  do  not  need  them  because  the  Koran  contains 
all  truth  and  knowledge  — this  knowledge  was  never 
swept  from  the  face  of  the  earth,  for  in  sacred  secret 
orders  (theosophical  lodges  we  may  call  them,  for  they 
are  lodges  for  the  study  of  divine  wisdom,  and  that  is 
all  the  word  theosophy  signifies)  this  knowledge  has 
always  been  preserved,  and  there  are  those  now  all 
over  the  world  who  act  as  ordinary  citizens,  who  wear 
the  ordinary  costume  of  the  period,  whose  outward 
manners  would  betoken  no  singularity,  who  belong 
to  these  ancient  lodges  and  hold  communion  with 


LECTURE  VIII. 


147 


those  who  have  handed  down  to  them  a direct  line 
of  history  of  those  ancient  buried  peoples.  Now 
concerning  Mahatmas  and  Himalayan  brothers : while 
a great  many  stories  have  been  told  of  them  filled  with 
sensational  exaggerations ; while  a great  deal  of  mys- 
tery has  been  thrown  over  Theosophy  by  those  who  en- 
deavor to  advertise  themselves  rather  than  divine  wis- 
dom, we  assure  you  that  we  know  as  a positive  fact 
that  ancient  history  is  now  in  the  possession  of  secret 
orders  which  is  yet  to  be  disclosed  to  the  world,  printed 
in  plain  English  and  sold  by  booksellers,  for  there  are 
many  important  palimpsests  about  to  be  deciphered 
by  learned  hieroglyphists,  archaeologists,  and  other  stu- 
dents of  antiquity,  and  you  will  soon  find  our  words 
concerning  the  condition  of  the  Atlantians  are  in  ac- 
cordance with  veritable  facts  recorded  on  the  sacred 
tablets  of  the  world’s  ancient  monuments  and  parch- 
ments, which  are  slowly  being  discovered  by  those  who 
in  various  ways  are  interrogating  the  bed  of  the  ocean, 
and  the  wonderful  monuments  of  antiquity  all  over  the 
earth,  and  who  will  reveal  all  the  truth  they  can  de- 
cipher to  the  world  at  large. 

The  religion  of  Atlantis,  which  has  been  aptly  called 
solar  worship,  was  not  a simple  recognition  of  the  solar 
orb  as  a center  of  light,  heat,  and  electricity,  but  as 
Swedenborg  said  in  a later  day,  reviving  the  science  of 
correspondences  which  he  declares  was  known  in  the 
time  of  Job  and  lost  for  four  thousand  years,  until  he 
refound  it  in  1757,  divine  wisdom  is  divine  light,  divine 
love  is  divine  heat.  Therefore,  as  the  sun  is  now  known 
to  be  the  center  of  light,  heat,  and  electricity  from  which 


148 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


the  world  and  all  that  grows  upon  it  derives  its  sus- 
tenance, and  this  fact  that  all  things  are  dependent  upon 
the  sun,  is  a recent  scientific  discovery,  so  far  as  the 
present  age  is  concerned  — the  very  fact  that  all 
ancient  people,  Egyptians,  Hindus,  Peruvians,  Central 
Americans  and  others  worshiped  the  sun,  is  an  evidence 
that  they  were  acquainted  with  the  scientific  facts 
which  are  now  being  newly  revealed  or  newly  discov- 
ered to  the  world. 

In  Solar  mythology,  when  spiritually  deciphered,  the 
sun  represents  the  soul,  the  light,  heat,  and  electricity 
radiating  from  it,  love,  wisdom,  and  truth  which  illume 
the  entire  understanding  and  body  of  man,  and  give 
him  all  his  intellect  and  vitality,  man  being  the  micro- 
cosm, God  the  macrocosm. 

Alcyone,  the  centre  of  the  Pleiades,  the  great  and 
glorious  central  sun  around  which  the  sun  which  lights 
this  system  in  company  wdth  many  others  accomplishes 
its  periodical  journey  in  the  grand  year  of  the  Pleiades, 
was  the  best  representative  of  the  Almighty  that  man 
could  find,  and  instead  of  dwarfing  and  limiting  God  to 
a puny  earthly  form,  instead  of  declaring  that  God  was 
to  be  likened  to  a dog,  a cat,  or  a bird,  — as  many  idola- 
ters have  likened  God,  — knowing  that  great  central 
sun  (without  which  the  universe  could  not  exist)  was 
the  center  of  all  light,  life,  heat,  and  electricity,  they 
acknowledged  it  as  a symbol  of  the  divine  spiritual 
power  which  kindled  all  worlds  everywhere ; and  thus 
Solar  worship,  the  grand  old  religion  of  the  Atlantians, 
the  religion  of  Egypt  at  the  time  when  the  Great  Pyra- 
mid of  Gizeh  was  built,  and  the  religion  of  all  the  most 


LECTURE  VIII.  149 

enlightened  ancients,  instead  of  being  an  idolatry  which 
worships  matter  and  ignores  spirit  altogether,  as  some 
suppose,  was  a correspondential  religion  acknowledging 
the  glorious  luminary  which  lights  all  space,  as  being 
the  best  and  most  perfect  symbol  of  the  divine  all-illumi- 
nating Being. 

The  Atlaiitians,  acknowledging  the  central  sun  as 
the  source  of  all  light,  declared  that  as  the  sun  gave 
light,  heat,  gladness,  and  vitality  to  countless  worlds, 
as  the  sun  did  not  exist  for  itself,  did  not  live  in 
solitary  grandeur,  shining  in  splendor  for  its  own 
glory,  but  lighted  all  space  and  brought  teeming  worlds 
into  existence  with  all  their  myriad  populations,  such 
was  God’s  light  in  the  great  universe  as  a whole ; and 
in  every  individual  life  God  must  be  understood  as 
always  imparting  his  beams  of  glory  to  all  who  will  to  be 
reached  by  His  power.  Acting  upon  this  glorious  princi- 
ple, they  declared  that  love  to  the  neighbor  and  works 
of  philanthropy  were  the  only  possible  means  of  show- 
ing forth  the  glory  of  God ; and  from  that  great  and 
glorious  ancient  world  came  the  very  spirit  of  the  com- 
mandments, “ Thou  shalt  love  God  with  all  thy  heart, 
and  thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself.” 

The  ancient  religion  of  Atlantis  has  been  well  recon- 
structed and  re-presented  to  the  world  in  Bulwer-Lyt- 
ton’s  magnificent  description  of  the  Vril-Ya;  and  when 
that  great  novelist  wrote  his  Coming  Race,”  he  did 
not  depend  upon  romance  or  imagination,  but  being 
himself  indoctrinated  into  the  innermost  mysteries  of 
certain  secret  orders,  he  wrote  the  history  of  Atlantis, 
and  prophesied  that  in  coming  days  the  world  would 


150 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


achieve  even  more  glorious  triumphs  over  matter  and 
beget  even  diviner  forms  of  government  than  were  ever 
known  before. 

Atlantis,  then,  is  that  wondrous  world  said  to  be  un- 
der the  earth  (for  it  is  now  under  the  water),where  those 
tall  and  venerable  men  and  women  rose  in  glory  with 
their  Vrilsticks  in  their  hands  to  dominate  the  earth 
and  gather  force  from  everything  in  nature,  driving 
away  all  errors  and  annoyance  by  the  mere  touch  of 
their  magic  wands.  From  many  ancient  sources  we 
may  learn  much  of  the  condition  of  the  ancient  world. 
We  are  convinced  that  Atlantis  will  be  reconstructed, 
nay,  surpassed  in  future  days  in  the  condition  of  some 
fair,  bright  land  in  which  all  nations  will  unite,  in 
which  all  peoples  will  amalgamate,  in  which  all  religions 
and  languages  will  blend  in  perfect  harmony ; for  out 
of  all  the  chaos  of  the  present,  a pure  religion,  a perfect 
language,  and  a just  government  founded  upon  princi- 
ples of  intelligence,  equity,  and  freedom,  will  appear, 
like  a phoenix  from  the  ashes,  soaring  triumphantly  to 
future  glory. 

What  was  the  condition  of  the  Atlantians  when  at 
the  zenith  of  their  greatness?  Study  if  you  will  the 
most  perfect  models  of  Grecian  art,  gaze  upon  the 
magnificent  statues  of  these  highly  civilized  peoples, 
when  the  nations  bordering  upon  Hellenic  seas  were  at 
the  very  summit  of  civilization.  Behold  the  majesty  of 
Hercules,  the  mighty  in  strength ; the  wondrous  love- 
liness of  Apollo  Belvedere  ; the  matchless  intelligence 
of  Minerva ; the  charming  grace  of  Venus.  Compare 
those  wonderful  models  of  humanity  with  the  almost 


LECTURE  VIII. 


151 


pigmy  creatures  who  strut  upon  the  earth  to-day,  and 
then  you  will  have  caught  something  of  a photograph 
of  those  marvelous  people  of  old  who  attained  to  this 
surpassing  loveliness  by  a life  of  intelligence  far,  far 
surpassing  that  which  is  dictated  by  the  highest  culture 
of  to-day,  which  is  superficial  because  intellectual  only 
and  not  spiritual,  even  when  avowedly  religious. 

In  those  ancient  days  when  the  gods  and  goddesses, 
as  they  are  termed,  walked  the  earth,  the  most  per- 
fect symmetry  extended  through  the  moral,  intellectual, 
and  physical  departments  of  human  nature.  The  most 
spiritually  minded  were  the  most  intellectual,  and  the 
most  intellectual  were  the  strongest  and  healthiest  in 
body.  Instead  of  emaciated  skeletons  priding  them- 
selves upon  their  sanctity  because  they  look  more  fit 
for  the  grave  than  for  the  discharge  of  ordinary  life 
duties ; instead  of  pale  and  lifeless  men  and  women 
cloistered  beneath  the  earth,  shut  away  from  the  invig- 
orating influence  of  sunshine,  air  and  beauty,  those 
noble  Atlantians,  who  were  the  builders  of  the  pyra- 
mids and  other  wonderful  structures  now  in  ruins  in 
Central  America,  were  the  people  who  were  made  men- 
tion of  as  ‘Hhe  children  of  God”  in  the  olden  times, 
separated  from  the  ordinary  children  of  men,  because 
characterized  by  exceeding  grace  of  mind  and  form. 

Their  government  was  a pure  republic,  a perfect  de- 
mocracy, and  yet  at  the  same  time  a theocracy.  It  was 
of  God,  and  yet  it  was  a government  of  the  people,  for 
the  people,  and  by  the  people.”  It  was  the  self-govern- 
ment of  an  enlightened  nation  who  followed  their  moral 
instincts  and  were  guided  by  intelligence  and  wise 


152 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


enough  to  allow  every  one  to  fall  into  his  own  place 
and  to  elect  as  rulers  those  who  were  seen  to  be  most 
fitted  for  the  work.  Bulwer-Lytton,  very  true  to  Atlan- 
tian  history,  says  that  the  Vril-Ya,  Avhen  they  selected 
their  rulers,  singled  out  for  their  representatives  men 
of  wonderful  unfoldment  and  special  qualifications  and 
urged  them  to  take  office.  He  states  further  that  there 
was  no  clamoring  for  position,  no  electioneering  strife, 
no  bribery  or  corruption  through  people  trying  to  get 
into  Congress  or  Parliament  in  order  that  they  may 
appear  a little  better  than  their  neighbors ; he  reviews 
the  past  and  forecasts  the  future,  in  his  description  of  a 
coming  race,  and  tells  you  what  was  in  the  highest  civil- 
ization of  olden  times,  and  what  will  be  again  on  a 
more  extended  scale  in  the  civilization  of  the  future. 

Atlantis  of  old  passed  through  all  the  stages  of  trial 
and  development  through  which  America  and  France 
are  now  passing.  Republican  and  democratic  experi- 
ments were  tried,  monarchies  came  and  went,  empires 
rose  and  fell,  and  then  at  last  a system  of  intelligent 
co-operation  arose,  embodying  all  the  excellence  of  the 
communistic  idea  with  all  that  is  truly  good  in  a paren- 
tal form  of  government,  united  in  an  absolutely  demo- 
cratic form  of  administration. 

The  land  was  abundantly  fruitful,  highly  cultivated, 
favored  with  a charming  climate  from  end  to  end,  and 
occupied  by  an  intelligent,  industrious  people  who  had 
carried  their  labor-saving  appliances  to  such  a point 
that  all  their  manual  work  was  performed  automati- 
cally, the  people  devoting  themselves  to  intellectual  and 
artistic  studies  of  every  kind.  They  soared  in  the  air, 


LECTURE  VTII. 


153 


travelling  with  wings  as  mechanical  appendages ; they 
had  a perfect  system  of  aerial  navigation,  and  in  their 
air-boats  sailed  in  the  calm  atmosphere  surrounding  that 
beautiful  land,  which  was  itself  a terrestrial  paradise,  as 
easily  as  vessels  cross  water  to-day  in  calmest  weather. 

All  this  points  to  the  glorious  coming  days  when  the 
new  Atlantis  shall  be  established  all  over  the  civilized 
globe.  Society  will  yet  show  itself  capable  of  taking  the 
most  romantic  theory  of  the  most  enthusiatic  prophet 
and  reducing  it  to  science,  showing  man’s  absolute 
power  at  length  over  the  elements,  but  only  after  he 
has  first  mastered  his  own  lower  nature. 

Men  and  women  of  Atlantis  were  in  blessed  equality ; 
no  striving  on  the  part  of  one  for  supremacy  over  the 
other,  they  acknowledged  their  equal  rights  and  offices, 
and  came  together  in  the  highest  marriage  relation  as 
mothers  and  fathers  of  children  whom  they  loved,  not 
one  of  whom  they  unwillingly  bore.  In  those  bright 
days  of  old  the  highest  civilization  expressed  itself  in  such 
perfect  education,  such  pure  religion,  such  high  art  and 
equitable  government,  that  to-day  with  all  our  boasted 
pride  and  civilization  we  look  back  that  we  may  pattern 
after  the  ancients.  You  admire  the  splendid  temples 
of  old  so  much  that  when  you  build  a new  cathedral  or 
coliseum  you  endeavor  to  imitate  ancient  architecture 
instead  of  seeking  to  improve  modern  imperfections. 
Every  one  admires  the  ancient  models,  and  with  all  our 
‘‘  superior  culture  ” we  have  to  acknowledge  that  the 
finest  poetry  and  the  most  sacred  writings  belong  to  a 
bygone  age. 

Be  it  so ! These  are  the  rich  ripe  fruits  of  a cycle 


154 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


long  since  culminated,  and  as  we  look  back  and  study 
the  history  of  the  old  world,  let  us  go  forward  into  the 
new  age,  not  only  to  equal,  but  to  surpass,  the  attain- 
ments and  achievements  which  were  the  loftiest  devel- 
opments of  yore. 

The  new  Atlantis,  Atlantis  reconstructed,  resurrected 
as  a phoenix  from  the  pile  of  ashes,  will  give  to  humanity 
in  the  days  to  come  even  more  perfect  religion,  manners, 
government,  and  art  than  these  prehistoric  people  ever 
knew : for  Whittier’s  words  ever  prove  correct,  — 

“ The  new  transcends  the  old 
In  signs  and  wonders  manifold.'* 


Aspikation. 

Etepnal  Fountain  of  all  goodness,  our  Father 
and  our  Mother,  who  art  in  all  the  heavens  and  in 
all  the  earths ; Thou  who  art  in  all  the  seas,  the  winds 
and  hurricanes,  the  earthquakes  and  the  storms  ; Thou 
who  art  in  everything  which  men  call  beautiful,  and  in 
all  things  which  men  call  adverse,  when  they  under- 
stand not  Thy  purpose,  when  they  realize  not  the  beauty 
of  Thy  plan ; Thou  who  art  all  in  all,  the  Eternal  One 
blessed  forever  and  ever,  we  lift  our  hearts  and  minds 
and  voices  unto  Thee,  the  infinite  spirit,  with  glad  ac- 
claim, praising  Thee  that  we  live  in  a beautiful  universe 
governed  by  an  all-wise  and  all-loving  law. 

If  in  the  law  of  nature  there  are  mysteries  we  cannot 
explain;  if  there  are  wonders  we  cannot  decipher,  and 


LECTURE  VIII. 


155 


marvelous  doings  beyond  our  ken;  may  we  in  humble 
trust  and  fervent  love  acknowledge  Thee  now  and  at  all 
times  as  the  guiding  and  inspiring  power  of  all,  work- 
ing out  a glorious  destiny  for  all  Thy  children,  and  ever 
preparing  for  the  sons  and  daughters  of  men  a larger 
heritage  and  a more  glorious  possession  than  they  ever 
forfeited  in  the  destruction  which  has  fallen  upon  the 
wondrous  places  of  olden  time. 

If  we  turn  our  eyes  to  the  earth  and  ocean  beneath 
our  feet,  and  observe  the  footprints  of  the  storm  and 
tempest  — where’er  we  turn  our  eyes ; if  nations  once 
most  powerful  and  victorious  lie  low  in  ruin,  and  their 
place  is  now  the  habitation  of  the  bittern  and  the  owl ; 
if  we  see  no  longer  the  gay  and  festive  crowds  march- 
ing through  imperial  Rome,  or  following  the  philoso- 
phers of  Greece  to  halls  of  learning;  if  over  all  the 
Orient  the  temples  are  desolate  and  the  fires  extin- 
guished upon  their  altars,  — may  we  know  that  Thou 
dost  ever  kindle  anew  the  fires  of  aspiration  in  the 
human  mind,  and  sendest  fresh  fire  from  heaven  to  give 
evidence  to  all  humble  and  honest  seekers  after  Thee, 
that  Thou  dost  answer  all  thy  suppliants  by  the  fire  of 
truth  which  cometh  down  from  spheres  supernal,  purg- 
ing the  dross  and  separating  precious  metal  from  base 
alloy. 

May  we  know  that  in  the  glorious  Eden-time  yet  to 
come,  in  the  paradise  yet  to  be  found  on  earth,  men 
will  realize  more  than  the  poet’s  dream,  more  than  the 
prophet’s  expectation  ; and  that  the  lion  and  the  lamb, 
the  little  child  and  the  serpent,  as  Thy  servants  of  old 
foretold,  will,  in  peace  and  harmony,  dwell  together, 


156 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


having  lost  all  subtlety,  all  ravenous  desire,  and  what- 
soever would  militate  against  a republic  of  perfect  peace 
and  happiness. 

May  we  know,  O Thou  eternal  fountain  of  all  good- 
ness, that  though  Thou  art  in  the  storm  and  in  the  deep 
waters.  Thy  way  is  ever  love  conjoined  with  wisdom.  If 
friends  more  loved  than  life  have  been  called  away  as 
with  a flood,  to  realms  beyond  the  tomb,  then  through 
the  rifted  clouds,  from  out  the  opening  heavens  may  we 
behold  them  with  the  eye  of  the  spirit  and  listen  to 
their  glad  voices  with  the  ear  of  the  spirit,  hearing  them 
singing  together  and  seeing  them  rejoice  as  they  walk 
in  white,  proclaiming  there  is  no  death,  but  only  trans- 
lation ; may  we  see  them  risen  and  ascended,  beckoning 
us  on  to  the  bright  worlds  where  now  they  dwell.  May 
we  feel  the  guidance  of  heaven’s  beckoning  hand  : may 
we  listen  and  obey  the  entreaties  of  all  loving  voices 
that  call  us  to  a higher  and  nobler  life ; and  though 
it  be  upon  the  wreck  of  all  that  sense  holds  dear, 
may  we  gladly  turn  to  the  Spirit  of  Truth  as  our  only 
guide  and  counselor,  and  fixing  our  minds  steadfastly 
upon  those  incorruptible  treasures  of  the  spirit  which 
neither  time  nor  death  can  ever  touch,  find  in  our  own 
souls  a new  paradise,  a kingdom  of  life  and  love  wherein 
Thou  dost  dwell  forever,  revealed  to  the  hearts  of  Thy 
children.  Amen. 


LECTURE  IX. 


ORIENTAL  THEOSOPHY.  — BRAHMANISM  AND 
BUDDHISM. 

It  is  indeed  impossible  to  deal  exhaustively  with 
these  two  most  stupendous  religious  systems  of  olden 
time,  and  it  would  be  futile  to  enter  upon  labored  argu- 
ments to  establish  the  priority  of  one  or  the  other.  They 
are  both  unmistakably  of  very  great  age,  dating  back 
into  what  is  commonly  called  prehistoric  antiquity.  Our 
endeavor  will  be  to  compare  the  two,  not  to  settle  any 
mooted  question  regarding  age  or  doctrinal  superiority. 

The  chief  difference  between  these  two  systems  is, 
that  Brahmanism  deals  principally  with  abstract  meta- 
physics, Buddhism  with  practical  philanthropy.  The 
Brahmanical  system  of  thought  is  indigenous  to  the 
East,  and  profoundly  metaphysical.  When  Mrs.  Eddy 
makes  the  statement,  All  is  mind;  there  is  no  matter,” 
she  uses  a phrase  in  harmony  with  all  spiritual  under- 
standing of  the  universe  ; but  such  a conception  cer- 
tainly did  not  originate  with  her,  nor  even  with  the 
Greek  philosophers  of  more  than  two  thousand  years 
ago ; it  is  an  echo  from  perhaps  the  oldest  system  of 
thought  extant  on  earth  — ancient  Brahmanism — which 
recognizes  Spirit  as  the  incorporeal  Brahm,  the  only 
Reality,  the  all  in  all  of  Being.  Matter  {Maya)  is 


158 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


nothing  but  illusion,  though  a reflection  of  the  All 
(Spirit).  The  material  world  has  no  existence  save  as 
a reflection  of  the  spiritual,  which  is  the  only  real 
world,  as  Spirit  is  the  only  reality.  This  doctrine  of 
the  sole  reality  of  spirit  and  the  utterly  illusive  char- 
acter of  matter  can  be  traced  back  through  thousands 
of  years  to  the  Vedas,  which  embody  the  profoundest 
system  of  thought  known  to  the  East.  But  this  system 
of  abstract  and  unapplied  metaphysics  often  addresses 
itself  to  the  intellect  alone,  not  to  the  affections ; conse- 
quently it  frequently  fosters  personal  spiritual  pride  and 
self-righteousness,  out  of  which  has  grown  many  a sys- 
tem of  caste,  giving  undue  authority  to  a ceremonial 
and  priesthood.  Any  attempt  to  convert  the  world  to 
absolute  Brahmanism  to-day  would  be  futile.  People 
who  love  to  revel  exclusively  in  abstract  ideas  are  not 
as  a rule  benevolent. 

Buddhism  is  entirely  different  from  Brahmanism ; as 
a religion  it  is*  ethical  rather  than  creedal,  and  delights 
entirely  in  benevolent  action.  Brahmanism  frequently 
looks  to  the  salvation  of  one’s  own  soul ; Buddhism  asks 
the  higher  question,  What  can  I do  to  save  others  ? ” 
The  most  frequent  question  of  the  individual  in  the 
world  of  to-day  is,  What  can  I do  to  advance  my  own 
prospects  ? how  raise  myself  to  some  high  condition  in 
this  world  or  another?”  Now  all  selfish  consideration 
represses  what  is  noblest  and  best  in  human  nature. 
Gautama  (Buddha)  renounced  everything,  became  a 
mendicant  friar,  and  gave  to  the  world  a religion  so 
nearly  resembling  that  of  Jesus,  that  we  cannot  contrast 
the  two,  there  being  no  essential  variance  between  them ; 


LECTUKE  IX. 


159 


we  can  onlj^  compare,  and  seek  to  harmonize  popular  ideas 
concerning  them.  Buddha  did  not  originate  his  teach- 
ings ; he  found  them  in  the  sacred  Vedas,  Puranas, 
and  Upanishads.  Buddha  was  a great  Brahmanical  re- 
former, as  Jesus  was  a reformer  among  the  Jews. 
Jesus  never  protested  against  the  law  or  the  prophets, 
only  against  the  spurious  aristocratic  element  that  had 
crept  into  Judaism  and  exalted  the  teachings  of  the 
Talmud  above  the  Thorah  or  Mosaic  law.  Gautama 
taught,  five  and  a half  centuries  earlier  than  Jesus,  the 
same  truth,  that  all  religion  must  be  made  practical. 
Buddha  disregarded,  as  he  grew  in  spirit,  all  the  auster- 
ities of  the  Brahman  creed,  and  devoted  himself  so 
entirely  to  a life  of  lovingkindness,  that  he  exalted 
moral  perfection  far  above  intellectual  accuracy ; he 
reduced  the  purely  metaphysical  ideas  of  his  country- 
men to  practice,  and  founded  a system  purely  ethical ; 
a pure  religion  carrying  into  effect  the  grandest  teach- 
ings to  be  found  in  all  the  world.  Buddha  had  attained 
in  his  earliest  youth  (at  eight  years  of  age)  to  the 
understanding  of  all  philosophy  and  science,  and  all 
through  his  life  he  felt  in  his  heart  the  religion  of  the 
Spirit ; but  not  until  he  reduced  it  to  daily,  hourly  prac- 
tice did  he  attain  to  the  state  of  perfect  blessedness 
(^Nirvana),  While  meditating  under  the  sacred  tree 
he  saw  all  his  past  embodiments,  reviewed  every  link  in 
the  chain  of  his  existence  as  it  had  been  forged  by  the 
effort  of  his  own  spirit,  and  learned  in  this  moment  of 
divine  revelation  that  everything  which  had  prepared 
him  for  Nirvana  was  the  good  he  had  done,  not  the 
intellectual  eminence  he  had  attained.  A merely  inteh 


160 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


lectual  comprehension  of  Theosophy  is  not  a road  to 
salvation.  Salvation  springs  from  the  practical  exem- 
plification of  truth  in  our  relation  to  our  brethren.  Our 
progress  along  the  road  cannot  be  judged  by  intellec- 
tual accomplishment,  but  only  by  our  spiritual  growth. 
We  cannot  estimate  real  progress  by  the  amount  of 
knowledge  stored  up  in  the  mind,  for  we  do  not  always 
find  saints  in  professors’  chairs,  or  sinners  clothed  in 
rags.  Spiritual  good  is  always  our  essential  good,  the 
good  of  our  affections,  not  the  truth  of  our  intellects ; 
though  in  a perfect  condition  of  dual  unfoldment,  it  is 
needless  to  declare,  we  shall  be  both  intellectually  and 
spiritually  developed. 

Brahmanism,  as  we  understand  it,  was  originally  a 
pure,  spiritual  religion,  proclaiming  the  essential  oneness 
of  all  life,  and  regarding  matter  as  an  illusion  of  finite 
sense.  But  in  the  lapse  of  centuries  the  lofty  ideal  of 
primitive  Hindu  sages  was  obscured  by  priestly  arro- 
gance, till,  as  in  the  case  of  Israel,  prophets  became  fewer 
and  fewer,  while  priests  and  sacrificial  ordinances  multi- 
plied on  every  hand.  There  is  but  one  Spirit;  what- 
ever appears  to  exist  separately  from  that  Spirit  is  but 
illusion;  this  was  the  protest  of  ancient  Brahmanical 
Theosophy  against  all  materialistic  or  sensuous  concep- 
tions of  the  Universe.  Para-Brahm,  the  Infinite  Un- 
known, inaccessible  to  the  intellect,  was  the  sum  and 
substance  of  the  ancient  teaching.  Modern  philoso- 
phers in  the  West  talk  of  the  Unknowable,  — a foolish 
word,  for  none  can  measure  prospective  knowledge. 
Theosophy  contents  itself  with  speaking  of  the  Great 
Unknown ; and  this  eternal  mystery,  though  beyond  all 


LECTUKE  IX. 


161 


our  present  power  to  solve,  may  be  so  far  understood 
by  us  in  the  future  as  to  appear  quite  well  known  by 
comparison  with  our  present  ignorance. 

As  the  mortal  senses  can  never  discern  spirit,  it  is 
quite  useless  to  argue  with  confirmed  sensualists  con- 
cerning Deity,  as  they  are  quite  destitute  of  the  first 
requisite  for  considering  the  question  fairly ; and  to 
some  extent  it  is  also  futile  to  discuss  the  divine  prob- 
lem with  intellectualists  who  scoff  at  intuition^  and 
declare  reason  to  be  all.  Such  people  may  be  quite 
honest,  and  live  clean  lives,  but  they  are  in  the  state  of 
the  “dog,”  as  the  term  is  used  correspondentially  in 
the  Scriptures ; the  former  class  are  corresponded  to  by 
“swine.”  To  attain  to  knowledge  of  the  Supreme 
Being  it  is  necessary  to  acknowledge  and  liberate  the 
divine  element  in  man,  the  “ spiritual  man  ” who  can 
and  does  discern  the  things  of  the  Spirit,  but  takes  no 
cognizance  of  outward  forms  of  sense.  As  no  one  can 
really  serve  two  masters,  it  is  vain  to  expect  any  great 
contribution  to  spiritual  knowledge  from  those  who  are 
immured  in  sense  and  worldly  pursuits,  and  it  is  equally 
unlikely  that  the  world  will  receive  very  much  assist- 
ance in  mere  money-making  from  those  Cheelahs  and 
Adepts  who  devote  themselves  exclusively  to  spiritual 
considerations. 

There  is  a prevalent  belief  in  the  West  to-day  that 
the  Oriental  religions  counsel  at  all  times  a life  of  the 
most  rigid  and  painful  asceticism ; that  they  would  urge 
their  followers  to  completely  renounce  every  earthly 
obligation  as  well  as  pleasure,  in  attaining  to  adepthood. 
This  view  is  erroneous  ; though  it  is  true  that  there  is 


162 


STUDIES  m THEOSOPHY. 


a strong  ascetic  element  in  Hinduism  as  there  is  in 
Roman  Catholicism ; and  the  two  systems,  when  care- 
fully analyzed,  will  be  found  to  teach  about  the  same 
thing  concerning  prayer,  penance,  mortification,  etc. 
In  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  there  are  two  distinct 
sets  of  commandments  : First.  Those  binding  on  every- 
body. These  include  the  Decalogue  and  certain  rules 
of  the  Church  concerning  confession,  communion,  fast- 
ing, alms,  attendance  at  Mass,  etc.  Second.  Those 
which  pertain  only  to  members  of  religious  orders,  and 
these  orders  are  by  no  means  equally  strict.  The 
Carmelites  and  Poor  Clares  differ  in  their  discipline 
from  the  Benedictines,  Dominicans,  and  others  whose 
churches  are  plentiful  all  over  the  world.  In  the  Cath- 
olic Church,  just  as  in  ancient  Brahmanism,  there  are 
again  two  distinct  views  as  to  the  most  effectual  means 
of  attaining  the  highest  blessedness.  In  the  Lives 
of  the  Saints,”  by  Alban  Butler,  and  that  much  more 
Anglican  view  of  the  subject  taken  in  a similar  work 
by  Baring-Gould,  the  writers  distinctly  prove  that  some 
eminent  mystics  in  the  Church,  many  of  whom  wrought 
miracles  (works  which  excited  wonder  because  the 
multitude  could  not  duplicate  them),  adopted  the  idea 
that  pure  contemplation  of  perfect  holiness  excited  in 
the  devotee  the  interisest  love  of  righteousness  and 
conduces  to  the  attainment  even  here  on  earth  of  in- 
effable beatification  ; while  others  insisted  that  scourg- 
ings  of  the  flesh,  fearful  flagellations,  and  other  horrid 
exercises  of  self-imposed  torture,  were  necessary  to  free 
the  soul  from  carnal  bondage.  Is  it  not  probable  that 
the  founders  of  different  orders  judged  the  world  by 


LECTURE  IX. 


163 


themselves,  and,  being  persons  of  widely  different  tem- 
perament, they  each  commended  only  that  discipline 
which  seemed  appropriate  to  their  own  needs?  For 
this  reason  the  Popes  have  sanctioned  many  orders,  and 
the  “ infallible  ” Church  confesses  to  freedom  in  disci- 
pline, but  rigid  uniformity  in  doctrine.  Many  Catholic 
priests  of  unquestioned  orthodoxy  disapprove  of  the 
persecution  of  ‘‘heretics”  to  the  death,  and  consider 
the  fiery  martyrdoms  of  the  sixteenth  century  the  result 
of  grievous  error  in  ecclesiastical  discipline ; but  these 
same  priests  would  render  themselves  liable  to  imme- 
diate suspension  and  ultimate  excommunication,  were 
they  to  show  any  toleration  for  the  doctrines  taught  by 
those  same  “heresiarchs”  and  their  condemned  followers. 
With  this  explanatory  digression  we  will  now  take  up 
the  two  opposing  elements  in  Hinduism,  one  of  which 
is  sublime  and  the  other  hideous,  leaving  the  reader  to 
use  his  own  judgment  in  accepting  or  condemning 
whatever  comes  to  him  in  an  Oriental  guise,  alleging 
itself  to  be  “ Eastern  wisdom.” 

Pure,  undiluted  Brahmanism  (an  absolutely  meta- 
physical system)  is  no  doubt  the  most  ancient  religion 
of  the  East ; but  Buddhism,  which  seeks  to  embody  the 
divine  idea  in  a perfect  man,  may  be  almost  as  ancient. 
The  two  systems  are  probably  almost  contemporaneous. 
To-day  they  exist  side  by  side  in  Asia  as  do  Judaism 
and  Christianity  in  Europe  and  America.  Brahmanism 
deals  with  God  out  of  Buddha;  Buddhism  sees  God 
only  through  Buddha,  as  Christianity  sees  God  only 
through  Christ,  which  view  of  Deity  Judaism  stoutly 
rejects,  as  the  Jewish  mind  fears  it  is  only  a species  of 


164 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


idolatry  or  polytheism ; but  polytheism  is  not  necessarily 
idolatrous,  nor  is  it  really  opposed  to  Monotheism 
when  inferior  divinities  are  never  permitted  to  usurp 
the  throne  of  the  Infinite  in  the  mind  of  the  worshiper. 
The  Jewish  Kabalists,  though  they  never  swerved  in 
their  allegiance  to  the  fundamental  proposition  of  Juda- 
ism, “ God  is  one,”  admitted  nine  orders  of  Sephiroth 
as  emanations  from  the  Supreme,  each  one  of  which, 
according  to  the  Kabala,  constitutes  a distinct  hierarchy 
in  the  invisible  world.  Moses,  though  never  deified  in 
Israel,  is  regarded  by  all  orthodox  Israelites  as  the 
greatest  man  who  ever  lived,  — a man  to  whom  God 
spoke  as  He  has  spoken  to  no  other ; but  the  distinctly 
mystic  element  in  Judaism  has  always  clustered  around 
the  person  of  Melchisedec,  King  of  Salem  (abode  of 
peace).  He,  as  priest  of  the  Most  High,  was  a greater 
man  than  Abraham;  for,  when  Abraham  met  him  he 
did  obeisance  before  him,  and  offered  him  loaves  and 
wine  in  token  of  his  superior  rank  as  a priest  of  the 
unchanging  order  of  the  Spirit.  The  Hebrew  name  for 
Deity,  Jahveh,  or  Jehovah,  means  the  self-existent 
being.  Adonai  (the  term  used  in  the  Hebrew  ritual) 
only  signifies  Lord,  which  is  a title  of  doubtful  mean- 
ing, and  suggests  to  the  mind  familiar  with  Greek  litera- 
ture, Adonis,  the  god  of  beauty,  whom  the  Greeks  never 
considered  the  equal  of  Zeus,  who,  in  his  turn,  was 
subordinate  to  the  nameless,  ineffable  Power  which, 
when  Stoicism  was  in  the  ascendant,  was  called  Fate, 
to  which  gods  as  well  as  men  were  always  subject. 

It  is  so  impossible  for  the  finite  mind  to  content  itself 
with  the  infinite  and  absolute  in  idea,  that  every  relig- 


LECTURE  IX. 


165 


ious  system  on  earth  has  added  Spiritualism  to  Mono- 
theism. These  two  systems  are  not  antagonistic  in  the 
minds  of  those  who  can  grasp  both;  for  the  latter  is 
but  a manifestation  of  the  former  which,  while  unmani- 
fest, is  incomprehensible.  Who  was  the  personal  Lord 
who  spake  to  Moses  from  the  bush  at  Horeb,  and  from 
the  summit  of  Sinai,  who  appeared  to  Elijah  in  the  wil- 
derness, and  constantly  manifested  himself  as  an  angel  to 
the  patriarchs  ? Surely,  not  the  Infinite  Eternal,  whom 
no  man  has  seen  at  any  time,  but  a messenger  from 
the  invisible  world,  near  enough  to  the  plane  of  man’s 
comprehension  to  be  intelligible  as  a personality,  and 
yet  far  enough  removed  from  ordinary  limitations  to 
be  a master  in  wisdom  to  those  with  whom  he  conversed. 
We  know  the  purely  subjective  type  of  mind  will  repu- 
diate this  explanation,  and  contend  that  objective  spir- 
itual phenomena  never  occur,  but  people  think  they 
take  place  when  they  are  hallucinated.  While  those 
who  argue  thus  are  often  very  spiritually  minded  people 
who  are  quite  sure  they  enjoy  interior  silent  communion 
with  the  Divine  Spirit,  we  must  differ  from  them  in  all 
kindness,  when  they  tell  us  that  only  subjectively  is 
spiritual  truth  revealed  to  man.  The  subjective  or 
internal  revelation  is,  no  doubt,  the  highest,  but  all  are 
not  prepared  to  receive  it ; therefore  there  is  always  an 
accommodation  of  truth  to  the  varied  necessities  of 
mankind. 

So  impossible  does  it  appear  to  revel  only  in  the 
thought  of  the  infinity  of  the  unmanifest  Supreme 
Being,  that  those  uncompromising  metaphysicians,  the 
ancient  Brahmans,  soon  discoursed  of  a trinity  by  means 


166 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


of  which  the  infinite  Brahm  was  revealed  in  the  uni- 
verse. As  there  is  but  one  absolute  color  (white),  but 
three  primaries  (red,  blue,  and  yellow),  and  these  three 
spring  from  one,  and  melt  into  one,  so  Brahma  (Creator), 
Vishnu  (Preserver),  and  Siva  (Destroyer  and  Repro- 
ducer) are  introduced  on  the  pages  of  Sanskrit  lore  as 
the  threefold  expression  of  the  sole  Infinite.  Buddhism 
here  steps  in  and  puts  forward  its  prominent  claim,  that 
Vishnu  is  periodically  incarnated  on  earth  as  a Buddha 
(wise  one),  and  that  these  incarnations  of  Vishnu  are 
necessary  at  intervals,  to  save  and  redeem  mankind. 
Vishnu  as  a spiritual  power  never  embodied  in  human 
form  is  a purely  Brahmanical  idea,  and  chimes  in  very 
well  with  the  Gnostic  idea  of  Christ  never  manifest  in 
the  flesh  as  a single  personality,  while  Vishnu  incarnate 
as  Buddha  born  of  a virgin,  singularly  precocious  as  a 
child,  living  a life  of  singular  purity,  healing  the  sick, 
preaching  to  the  poor,  suffering  much,  and  then  trans- 
lated without  dying,  finds  its  parallel  in  that  far  more 
popular  phase  of  Christianity  which  deifies  Jesus  and 
declares  him  to  be  ‘‘  very  God  of  very  God,”  in  a sense 
in  which  it  would  be  blasphemy  to  consider  any  human 
being  God.  The  popular  view  of  truth  is  always  more 
or  less  beclouded  with  error  in  consequence  of  the  very 
limited  view  most  people  are  able  to  take.  Certain  it 
is  that  great  masses  of  mankind  grasp  some  idea,  funda- 
mentally true,  and  then  build  upon  it  an  enormous 
structure  partly  true  and  partly  false.  As  with  Chris- 
tianity so  with  Buddhism;  the  enlightened  are  but 
few,  while  the  ignorant  are  very  many,  and  frequently 
the  exoteric  belief  of  the  masses  is  taken  for  the  esoteric 


LECTUKE  IX. 


167 


verity  known  only  to  initiates.  Mr.  Sinnett  in  his 
“ Esoteric  Buddhism  ” has  not,  in  our  opinion,  fathomed 
the  deeper  truths  of  Buddhism,  except  here  and  there. 
His  work  is  learned,  and  gives  evidence  of  much  re- 
search and  not  a little  deep  thought;  but  it  is  not 
always  theosophical,  as  it  falls  into  the  stupid  error  so 
common  in  Christendom,  that  literal  death,  what  Shake- 
speare calls  ‘‘shuffling  off  this  mortal  coil,”  makes  an 
immense  difference  in  the  immediate  condition  of  the 
individual  who  has  died  to  the  external  world.  This 
conclusion  is  less  true  than  almost  the  crudest  notion 
of  the  most  illiterate  of  modern  Spiritualists  on  the 
same  subject,  for  one  will  hardly  find  a Spiritualist  in 
any  part  of  the  world  who  does  not  know  enough  to 
deny  this  palpable  and  misleading  blunder. 

The  whole  difficulty  concerning  “separation  of  prin- 
ciples at  death,”  “ shells,”  “ astral  bodies,”  “ reliquae  of 
the  departed,”  and  many  other  crude  conceptions  thrust 
upon  the  world  as  arcane  wisdom,  has  arisen  from  an 
utter  failure  to  understand  the  mystical  meaning  of 
the  term  death  as  employed  by  spiritually  enlightened 
writers  the  world  over.  “ Ye  are  dead,”  “ I die  daily,” 
and  similar  expressions  of  Paul  in  several  of  his  epis- 
tles cannot  be  made  to  refer  to  physical  dissolution 
without  destroying  the  sense  irrationally;  and  just  as 
Paul  spoke  of  death  and  dying  in  a figurative  sense, 
so  did  the  mystics  of  the  far  Orient,  to  whom,  as  to  the 
Rosicrucians,  the  secret  of  death  is  transmutation.  A 
more  foolish  misstatement  can  hardly  be  imagined  than 
this  we  meet  with  continually  in  avowedly  theosophical 
publications,  which  are  too  often  theosophical  only  in 


168 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


name ; and  as  these  misapprehensions  are  great  roots 
of  bitterness,  occasioning  much  strife,  contention,  and 
often  severe  mental  distress,  we  are  determined  to  do 
our  part  in  presenting  what  we  know  to  be  the  truth 
as  opposed  to  these  errors.  Mrs.  E.  H.  Britten,  though 
herself  a student  of  occultism,  and  one  who  has  done 
much  to  promote  the  study  of  it  in  others,  has  written 
vehement  articles  against  Theosophy  in  her  paper.  The 
Two  Worlds^  published  weekly  in  Manchester,  England, 
in  consequence  of  this  foolish  misconception  coming  so 
prominently  to  the  front  in  many  places.  We  wish  she 
had  corrected  the  error  more  theosophically ; but  any- 
way her  denunciation  of  it  can  have  done  no  real  harm 
to  the  theosophical  movement,  as  only  the  tares  can 
perish  — nothing  can  destroy  the  wheat. 

The  seven-fold  constitution  of  man,  as  generally  stated 
by  ‘‘Esoteric  Buddhists,”  is  comparatively  easy  of  accept- 
ance and  provokes  no  reasonable  hostility,  though  to 
the  word  principle  used  in  that  sense  many  may  take 
exception,  as  there  is  in  reality  but  one  principle  of 
life  — essential  spirit.  The  seven-fold  constitution  is 
really  a misnomer,  as  there  is  but  one  life  principle 
according  to  those  who  speak  most  of  seven  principles, 
and  that  one,  which  is  both  Alpha  and  Omega,  is  called 
atma^  which  signifies  divine  soul,  the  immortal  atom  of 
intelligence  which,  as  a deathless  entity,  lives  unchanged 
despite  all  that  may  occur  to  its  subordinates.  This 
atma^  or  ultimate  unit  of  consciousness,  is  expressed  in 
what  is  termed  the  spiritual  soul^  which  is  the  seat  of 
moral  perception;  this  in  turn  is  displayed  through  the 
intellectual  soul^  which  is  the  seat  of  human  reason  or 


LECTUKE  IX. 


169 


intellect,  without  which  man  would  not  be  man.  Below 
these  divine  and  human  principles  are  placed  the  animal 
soul^  which  is  the  seat  of  instinct  and  passion ; the  astral 
hody^  which  is  the  invisible  form  or  organism ; vitality^ 
which  is  the  connecting  link  between  the  astral  or  im- 
material body  and  the  physical  frame ; and  lastly,  the 
physical  body  itself.  As  involution  necessarily  precedes 
evolution,  the  first  from  the  spiritual  side  is  the  seventh 
from  the  material,  and  vice  versa.  To  give  our  readers 
a plain  illustration  of  the  idea  we  present  the  following 
table  of  the  constitution  of  man : — 


ABSOLUTE  UNMANIFEST  LIFE. 


7.  Atma. 

LADDER  OF  LIFE. 

- Involution. 

Descent  of  Spirit  into  Expression. 

1.  Atma. 

6.  Spiritual  Soul. 

o 

t 2.  Spiritual  Soul. 

5.  Intellectual  Soul. 

3.  Intellectual  Soul. 

4.  Animal  Soul. 

4.  Animal  Soul. 

3.  Astral  Body. 

5.  Astral  Body. 

2.  Vitality.  i 

•g 

o 

6.  Vitality. 

1.  Physical  Body.  s 

Evolution.  ^ 

Return  of  Spirit. 

7.  Physical  Body. 

170 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


It  will  be  readily  seen  by  this  table  that  the  popular 
Kabalistic  figure  of  the  double  triangle  is  intended  to 
represent  the  sixfold  expression  of  the  one  inexpressible 
life  principle ; and  those  who  study  this  will  see  how 
vast  a truth  those  healers  have  grasped,  who  sometimes, 
however,  cannot  very  well  explain  their  philosophy,  who 
treat  by  urging  forgetfulness  of  all  but  the  atma.  God 
is  well,  and  so  are  you,”  is  quite  true  in  every  case,  pro- 
vided we  know  what  it  means.  The  upward  pointing 
triangle  (A)  may  be  read  thus : — 


The  eye,  or  divine  name  in  the  centre,  always  signifies 
the  immortal  life  principle,  which  is  one  with  God,  and  is 
all-good  in  finite  degree  as  the  Infinite  is  all-good  in  infin- 
ite degree.  The  downward-pointing  triangle  (v)  may 
be  read  thus  : — 


Astral  Body. 


LECTUKE  IX. 


171 


but  it  is  no  real  part  of  man,  and  thus  the  fourfold 
constitution  is  all  that  is  admitted  by  those  who  know 
the  external  form  to  be  nothing  more  than  a temporary 
appendage.  Man  is  one,  as  there  is  but  one  God.  To  use 
Brahmanical  terms,  Brahm  is  corresponded  to  by  the  atma 
which  manifests  itself  in  the  following  threefold  order  : 
Brahma  (Creator)  in  the  spiritual  soul,  Vishnu  (Pre- 
server) in  the  intellectual  soul,  and  Sim  (Destroyer 
and  Reproducer)  in  the  animal  soul.  It  is  intuition 
which  creates,  reason  which  preserves,  and  animal  im- 
pulses which  destroy  and  reproduce  expressions.  Thus 
the  three  loves  which  Swedenborg  says  are  in  the  heart 
of  every  man  can  be  located ; divine  love  in  the  spiritual 
soul,  neighborly  love  in  the  intellectual  soul,  and  self- 
love  in  the  animal  soul.  When  these  three  loves  are 
rightly  subordinated,  man  is  an  angel ; but  when  they 
are  inverted,  he  is  a fiend.  Thus  ‘‘All  is  good,  there  is 
no  evil,”  can  receive  a perfect  explanation  as  we  learn 
to  know  ourselves.  Demon  est  deus  inversus  (a  demon 
is  an  inverted  god)  is  an  ancient  theosophical  maxim 
and  teaches  us  as  we  study  what  is  perfectly  in  accord 
with  all  the  researches  of  outward  science,  viz.,  that 
everything  in  nature  is  innately  or  inherently  good,  and 
only  needs  to  be  rightly  employed  to  proclaim  its  good- 
ness. 

Evolution  teaches  that  the  component  parts  of  ante- 
diluvian monsters  have  been  dissipated,  and  that  after 
the  molecules  were  separated  and  eventually  recom- 
bined, fair  and  graceful  forms  took  the  place  of  the 
frightful  creations  of  bygone  cycles.  When  Theosophy 
lifts  the  curtain  and  reveals  the  inner  sense  of  the  first 


172 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


chapter  of  Genesis,  the  six  days’  labor  of  the  soul  and 
its  seventh  day  of  rest  appear  before  us  as  a beautiful 
allegory  of  the  progress  of  each  individual  spirit  from 
untempted  innocence  to  celestial  purity.  Innocence 
differs  from  purity  in  that  it  is  dove-like  harmlessness, 
but  nothing  more ; while  purity  unites  the  wisdom  of 
the  serpent  therewith,  and  is  a permanent  condition 
from  which  no  fall  need  be  feared.  The  four  states 
mentioned  in  ‘‘Esoteric  Buddhism”  as  lying  beyond  the 
grave,  can  be  easily  comprehended  if  we  know  that 
Avitehi^  the  lowest  of  them,  corresponds  to  hell,  a place, 
or  state  of  remorse  and  misery,  entered  upon  only  by 
those  whose  motives  have  been  malicious,  and  who  have 
purposely  worked  to  injure  others.  A peculiar  feature 
of  this  condition  is  that  while  it  is  not  and  cannot  be 
eternal,  it  appears  everlasting  to  those  who  are  suffering 
in  it,  and  from  this  cause  Dante  in  his  “ Inferno,”  and 
Swedenborg  in  his  “ Heaven  and  Hell,”  have  pictured 
it  as  though  unending.  Avitchi  is  only  possible  to 
the  very  worst  type  of  men  conceivable.  Kama-loca  is 
an  Oriental  synonym  for  purgatory,  and  really  means 
nothing  more  than  a progressive  condition  after  death, 
which  the  majority  of  persons  must  experience,  for  they 
are  not  low  enough  for  Avitchi^  nor  high  enough  in  the 
moral  scale  for  Devachan^  which  is  the  Sanskrit  name 
for  paradise,  a condition  of  calm  repose  and  sweet  con- 
tent, the  well-earned  reward  of  an  active  and  self-deny- 
ing life  on  earth.  Nirvana  means  ineffable  blessedness, 
and  describes  the  state  of  the  soul  when  finally  released 
from  the  need  of  further  planetary  pilgrimages. 

The  planetary  chain  is  a very  interesting  feature  of 


LECTURE  IX. 


173 


the  Eastern  doctrine,  and  explains  the  old  idea  of  the 
seven  worlds  in  harmony  with  astronomy,  at  the  same 
time  giving  us  a very  intelligent  glimpse  at  the  object 
of  planetary  creation.  As  there  are  seven  notes  in  the 
musical  scale.  A,  B,  C,  D,  E,  F,  G,  so  in  a scale  of 
worlds  there  are  seven  planets ; but  the  same  world  does 
not  always  represent  the  same  note : there  are  always 
seven  worlds  in  each  scale,  and  as  a world  progresses, 
it  strikes  the  octave  note  and  becomes  the  commence- 
ment of  a higher  scale,  at  which  time  there  is  another 
world  ready  to  enter  the  scale  as  lower  A,  from  which 
this  advanced  planet  has  departed  as  higher  A.  Say, 
for  instance,  that  at  present  in  this  solar  system.  Mer- 
cury is  A;  Venus,  B;  Earth,  C;  Mars,  D;  Jupiter,  E; 
Saturn,  F ; and  Uranus,  G.  Neptune  must  be  A in  a 
scale  above.  In  the  order  of  development  a world  must 
either  go  forward  in  the  scale,  or  go  to  pieces,  and  drop 
out  of  it.  Some  people  think  the  later  fate  befell  one 
planet  in  this  system,  and  that  the  Asteroids  are  the 
fragments  of  this  disrupted  orb.  Some  very  interesting 
views  on  astronomy  will  be  found  in  the  section  en- 
titled Electrical  Christian  Theosophy  ” ; therefore  we 
will  not  pursue  the  theme  further  at  this  point,  neither 
will  we  enlarge  upon  Karma^  as  that  is  treated  at  length 
in  a section  devoted  to  it.  In  bringing  this  lecture  to 
a close  we  will  content  ourselves  with  declaring  that 
a fair-minded  study  of  Hinduism  leaves  the  student 
amazed  at  its  agreement  with  Christianity  esoterically 
interpreted,  which  everywhere  forces  itself  on  the  stu- 
dent’s mind.  Verily  there  is  but  one  esoteric  religion 
under  many  names. 


LECTURE  X. 


THROUGH  THE  AGES. 

A Study  op  the  Soul's  Progression  through  Repeated  Earthly 
Experiences. 

It  is  almost  impossible  to  touch  upon  the  profoundly 
interesting  subject  of  the  repeated  embodiments  of  the 
human  soul,  or  the  pluralit}^  of  terrestrial  existences, 
without  feeling  something  of  that  pressure  of  antago- 
nistic thought  which  beats  against  the  minds  of  those 
who  are  seeking  to  solve  life’s  mighty  problem,  and 
from  the  prejudiced  thoughts  of  a multitude  who  seem- 
ingly must  dogmatize  where  they  have  no  light,  and 
appear  as  though  compelled  to  unkindly,  even  fiercely, 
denounce  all  who  have  received  a ray  of  truth  from 
any  source  except  such  sources  as  they,  in  their  arro- 
gance, suppose  to  be  alone  creditable,  because  in  con- 
sonance with  their  own  predilections.  From  science 
we  have  nothing  to  fear  and  everything  to  hope ; but 
from  blind  and  self-conceited  sciolism  we  ask  no  quarter 
and  seek  no  indorsement. 

The  objections  to  the  doctrine  of  repeated  embodi- 
ments, so  far  as  we  have  heard  them,  are  without 
exception  crudely  materialistic,  personalistic  in  the  nar 
rowest  sense,  and  not  infrequently  vulgar  and  insulting. 
For  several  years  the  author  of  this  volume  and  many, 


LECTURE  X. 


175 


many  other  persons  have  through  the  public  press  im- 
portuned the  objectors  to  this  great  mystery,  as  it 
appears  to  so  many,  to  state  reasonably,  logically,  and 
consistently,  without  puerility  or  venom,  their  best 
answer  to  this  dogma,  as  they  term  it,  and  to  which 
they  manifest  such  senseless  and  irrepressible  opposi- 
tion ; but  in  vain.  All  arguments  to  prove  it  false 
have  turned  out  weak  when  not  spiteful;  and  though  all 
over  the  world  a controversy  has  been  waging  for  many 
years,  and  is  not  ended  yet:  we  have  yet  to  see  a single 
answer  to  the  central  claim,  that  divine  justice,  impartial 
equity,  is  only  thus  displayed.  The  innumerable  ine- 
qualities apparent  on  every  hand  imperatively  demand 
some  just  explanation.  Those  who  oppose  the  theory 
of  re-embodiment  never  answer  the  questions  which  are 
put  to  them.  If  they  are  theological  bigots  committed 
to  some  antiquated  church  dogma  which  is  sure  to  be 
a perversion  of  some  occult  truth,  they  content  them- 
selves, and  strive,  though  usually  quite  unsuccessfully 
in  this  age,  to  satisfy  their  interlocutors  with  the  time- 
worn and  depressing  reply,  ‘‘We  must  not  speculate  on 
matters  of  religion,  God  having  revealed  to  us  in  the 
Bible  and  through  the  ministry  of  the  church  all  he 
intends  us  to  know  in  this  life ; probably  in  the  here- 
after what  is  now  mystery  will  be  made  plain.” 

If  the  objector  be  a Spiritualist,  he  usually  commences 
with  an  utterly  illogical  statement  concerning  relation- 
ships, entirely  forgetting  that  no  relation  which  is  sim- 
ply of  earth,  in  any  way  pertains  to  the  spirit.  Persons 
may  be  very  near  earthly  relatives  and  at  the  same 
time  bound  to  each  other  by  the  closest  spiritual  ties ; 


176 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


but  it  is  equally  common  for  those  who  have  no  tie  of 
blood  between  them  to  be  exceedingly  near  to  each 
other  in  spirit,  while  the  closest  earthly  bonds  often  be- 
token no  spiritual  relationship  whatever.  Not  only  do 
those  Spiritualists  who  oppose  the  theory  of  re-embodi- 
ment utterly  fail  to  realize  the  truth  concerning  real 
relations ; they  confound  the  terms  identity^  individual- 
ity^ and  personality  so  bewilderingly  that  only  one  idea 
is  expressed  by  these  three  words,  each  of  which  when 
rightly  understood  conveys  a totally  different  idea. 
Identity  pertains  to  the  soul,  individuality  to  the  mind, 
and  personality  to  the  body.  In  a very  fascinating 
story,  published  in  three  volumes  by  C.  L.  H.  Wallace, 
Oxford  Mansions,  London,  entitled  Through  the  Ages,” 
the  gifted  author,  who  remains  anonymous,  brings  for- 
ward argument  after  argument  in  favor  of  this  much 
misunderstood  but  most  important  fact  of  repeated  em- 
bodiments, and  answers  very  powerfully  the  leading 
objections  to  it.  For  those  who  are  not  particularly 
attracted  to  philosophical  essays,  such  a novel  is  very 
helpful  and  instructive.  The  same  remark  may  apply 
in  great  measure  to  ‘‘  Karma,”  by  A.  P.  Sinnett,  which  is 
obtainable  everywhere  at  purely  nominal  cost,  — fifteen 
to  thirty-five  cents,  according  to  style  of  binding  and 
size  of  type.  For  those  who  are  really  anxious  to  seri- 
ously investigate  this  great  subject  we  would  recom- 
mend a work  entitled  Reincarnation,”  published  by 
the  Occult  Publishing  Company,  120  Tremont  Street, 
Boston ; also,  ‘‘  The  Soul,”  a series  of  teachings  given 
through  the  mediumship  of  Mrs.  Cora  L.  V.  Richmond, 
published  by  William  Richmond,  Roger’s  Park,  Illinois. 


LECTUKE  X. 


177 


Both  of  these  works  are  most  interesting:  the  former 
is  historical,  comparative,  illustrative ; the  latter,  posi- 
tive and  didactic  in  style  and  reasoning.  Of  course, 
manifold  questions  will  arise  on  this  subject  in  the 
minds  of  all  who  are  seeking  the  light  its  consideration 
may  help  to  afford.  It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  so 
vast  a theme  can  be  dealt  with  off-hand;  nor,  in  the 
present  stage  of  general  knowledge,  need  we  expect  a 
thoroughly  consistent  statement  of  the  whole  case  from 
the  lips  or  pens  of  all  its  numerous  advocates. 

Allan  Kardec,  the  noted  Frenchman,  whose  name, 
or  rather  nom  de  flume ^ is  so  intimately  associated  with 
the  doctrine  of  re-embodiment  in  Europe,  was  by  no 
means  an  ultimate  authority  on  the  subject,  nor  did  he 
ever  profess  to  be.  He  was  among  the  kindest  and 
most  modest  of  men,  say  those  who  knew  him  best. 
His  sole  desire  was  to  advance  the  cause  of  truth  and 
human  progress ; to  this  end  he  freely  gave  time,  money, 
energy,  and  all  he  had  to  bestow,  reserving  for  himself 
only  sufficient  means  to  enable  him  to  live  quietly  in 
Paris,  in  rooms  largely  devoted  to  the  work  so  near 
his  heart.  In  the  early  days  of  Spiritism  in  France, 
the  apartments  of  this  noble  man  were  freely  open  to 
earnest  investigators  in  the  field  of  psychic  science, 
while  all  the  sensitives  who  came  in  his  atmosphere 
found  him  firm  but  gentle,  grave  but  kind,  ever  anxious 
to  give  the  utmost  latitude  to  individual  expression, 
and  then  to  diligently  compare  the  teachings  given 
through  different  channels  the  one  with  the  other,  until 
he  found  a sufficient  concord  in  the  general  statement 
to  justify  him  in  publishing  them  to  the  world  in  the 


178 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


Revue  Spirite^  an  excellent  journal  he  was  then  editing. 
Four  of  his  principal  works  — The  Spirits’  Book,” 
‘‘The  Medium’s  Book,”  “Heaven  and  Hell,”  and  “Gene- 
sis ” — are  now  for  sale  in  English  at  the  Banner  of  Light 
establishment,  — 9 Bosworth  St.,  Boston,  — at  $1.50  per 
volume.  “ Heaven  and  Hell  ” is,  in  our  opinion,  the 
most  intensely  interesting  of  the  series  to  those  who 
are  desirous  of  considering  the  matter  from  a religious 
standpoint.  No  matter  whether  or  not  one  is  prepared 
to  accept  all  that  is  put  forward  concerning  the  sources 
whence  the  teachings  were  derived;  wherever  they  came 
from,  they  are  excellent,  and  whatever  may  be  their 
defects  in  the  opinion  of  any,  no  one  can  justly  accuse 
them  of  glossing  over  a palpable  weakness  or  creeping 
out  through  a small  crevice  when  a question  pertaining 
to  universal  equity  is  on  the  tapis. 

As  we  look  over  the  earth  to-day  we  see  any  number 
of  varieties  in  human  condition,  and  we  are  naturally 
led  to  inquire.  Why  are  things  as  they  are  ? Theology 
with  its  “ divine  mysteries  ” may  satisfy  those  who  do 
not  feel  deeply  on  these  matters,  and  the  future  life  as 
mapped  out  by  Spiritualists  may  seem  quite  satisfactory 
to  those  who  are  contented  with  an  evasive  and  partial 
reply.  That  everything  is  for  the  best,  that  God  does 
all  things  well,  that  all  will  be  fully  compensated  in 
the  hereafter,  may  be  expressions  of  a great  truth ; but 
the  question  still  remains  unanswered.  Why  are  people 
so  terribly  unequal  now  ? To  this  question  Theosophy 
fearlessly  addresses  itself,  and  by  having  recourse  to 
the  wisdom  of  the  ages  presents  the  nineteenth  century 
with  a philosophy  fully  in  accord  with  the  doctrine  of 


LECTURE  X. 


179 


evolution,  and  also  in  perfect  consonance  with  every 
exalted  religious  sentiment.  Evolution  is  unthinkable 
if  there  be  no  such  a base  for  it  as  involution  supplies. 
We  may  trace  every  organism  back  from  the  most  com- 
plex to  the  most  rudimentary,  to  a single  germ  cell ; but 
such  an  original  cell  must  contain  within  it  all  possi- 
bilities of  future  expression,  or  the  development  of  a 
higher  type  could  not  take  place.  In  the  light  which 
involution  supplies,  evolution  is  no  longer  insoluble ; 
for,  back  of  the  germ  is  the  spiritual  monad,  or  soul, 
the  living  entity,  the  conscious  designer  and  builder  of 
forms,  which  is  never  really  confined  to  any  material 
tabernacle,  but  uses  one  after  another,  the  palpable 
organizations  we  behold,  through  which  to  display  its 
latent  talents.  James  Freeman  Clarke,  whose  essays 
on  Oriental  religions  are  exceptionally  fine,  tells  us  in 
his  ‘‘Ten  Great  Religions,”  a most  marvelous  produc- 
tion, which  all  students  of  Theosophy  should  study,  that 
while  he  claims  to  actually  hnow  nothing  of  transmi- 
gration, its  truth  or  error,  he  feels  convinced  that  the 
enlightened  of  ancient  time  and  Orient  clime  did  not 
teach  the  vulgar  notion  entertained  by  the  illiterate, 
that  human  souls  after  the  dissolution  of  their  physical 
bodies  pass  into  the  forms  of  animals;  but  that  the 
theory  of  transmigration  was  really  an  idea  of  evolm 
tion  : therefore  the  various  developments  of  inferior 
organisms  by  the  human  entity  preceded  birth  into 
human  form  instead  of  succeeding  the  death  of  that 
form.  Now  if  evolution  be  accepted  for  the  human 
race  at  large,  why  not  for  every  unit  in  particular? 
What  is  there  foolish  or  repulsive  in  the  theory  that 


180 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


the  vital  spark  of  divine  life  animating  a human  organ- 
ism to-day,  built  an  inferior  form  in  ages  past,  and 
that,  ever  proceeding  along  its  upward  way,  it  is  con- 
tinually advancing  toward  perfection  in  expression. 
‘‘  Art  Magic  ” and  Ghost  Land,”  those  extraordinary 
works  published  about  1876,  by  Mrs.  Emma  Hardinge 
Britten,  who  declares  them  to  have  been  written  by 
‘‘one  who  knows,”  and  that  one  not  herself,  — she  being 
only  their  translator  and  editor,  — both  take  the  ground 
of  pre-existence,  though  they  do  not  favor  the  idea  of 
repeated  embodiment  in  human  form.  In  both  those 
volumes  a theory  of  “elementals”  is  ingeniously  put 
forward  to  explain  the  genesis  of  the  individual  soul  of 
man  in  a rational  manner.  Such  theories  are  intensely 
interesting,  and  well  worthy  of  consideration.  We 
should  imagine  those  who  consider  them  conclusive 
must  believe  that  some  human  entities  have  advanced 
further  in  the  elemental  kingdoms  prior  to  their  mani- 
festing in  human  form  than  others ; and  if  this  conject- 
ure can  be  fairly  argued  out,  it  certainly  may  do  much 
to  remove  the  terrible  blot  on  the  posture  of  the  univer- 
sal plan,  placed  there  by  the  dogmas  of  those  who  deny 
both  pre-existence  and  re-embodiment. 

A singular  work,  “ The  Light  of  Egypt,”  for  which 
great  claims  are  made  by  the  author,  who  holds  to  being 
exceeding  wise,  and  who  expresses  acrid  hostility  to 
“ Esoteric  Buddhism,”  which  he  unsparingly  denounces 
and  in  many  places  grossly  misrepresents,  puts  forward 
a somewhat  similar  view,  and  were  it  not  for  his  de- 
nunciation of  others  his  work  would  be  very  readable 
throughout : as  it  is,  he,  in  common  with  all  others  of 


LECTURE  X. 


181 


his  school  who  seek  to  deny  whatever  they  do  not  under- 
stand, misrepresents  the  purpose  of  successive  embodi- 
ments in  the  most  important  instances,  and  makes  the 
doctrine  of  Karma  (consequence)  signify  a harsh,  un- 
reasonable, vindictive,  unfair  system  of  punishment, 
while  it  is  exactly  the  reverse,  — a perfectly  equitable 
plan  of  education.  To  many  minds  the  works  of  Kardec 
savor  of  a doctrine  of  expiation  of  sins  committed  in  a 
former  existence  far  too  strongly,  as  also  do  certain 
writings  of  Anna  Blackwell,  still  extant,  some  of  which 
first  appeared  many  years  ago  in  Human  Nature.,  a 
London  periodical  not  issued  at  present.  But  the  stress 
laid  on  expiatory  suffering  is  often  due  to  the  urgent 
quest  for  a satisfactory  answer  to  the  query,  Why  do 
we  suffer?  which  will  not  down.  In  dealing  with  this 
topic  we  desire  to  be  particularly  lucid  and  cautious, 
and  shall  therefore  carefully  avoid  all  technicalities 
and  seek  to  present  the  subject  so  that  any  intelligent 
child  may  understand  it.  The  human  soul,  according  to 
Hindu  Theosophy,  is  quite  distinct  from  the  spiritual 
soul,  which  is  its  originator  and  on  which  it  depends 
for  everything.  This  human  soul,  the  offspring  of  the 
spiritual,  requires  discipline,  all  of  an  educational  char- 
acter. It  must  forfeit  its  primeval,  automatic  inno- 
cence, and  eventually  attain  the  royal  height  of  perfect 
purity  in  which,  to  use  a Gospel  metaphor,  the  wisdom 
of  the  serpent  is  united  with  the  harmlessness  of  the 
dove.  During  probationary  stages  of  growth  the 
human  soul  must  develop  its  own  consciousness,  and 
from  choice,  not  compulsion,  follow  in  all  things  the 
dictates  of  spiritual  desire.  To  accomplish  the  perfect 


182 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


individualization  of  this  subordinate  consciousness,  it  is 
essential  that  the  soul  should  experience  to  the  full  the 
result  of  sowing  and  reaping  according  to  its  own  will. 
There  are  no  rewards  and  no  punishments  in  the  usual 
but  wrongful  acceptance  of  those  words.  Throughout 
all  periods  of  progression,  each  individual  reaps  what 
he  sows,  and  his  next  sowing  is  in  large  measure  de- 
pendent upon  his  last  reaping.  There  is  no  particular 
private  destiny  marked  out  for  any  individual ; there  is 
a common  race  destiny  to  which  all  are  subject,  and 
this  destiny  is  simply  destination.  If  one  man  sows 
grapes  and  another  thorns,  one  will  reap  grapes  and 
the  other  thorns;  but  there  is  no  law  compelling  one 
to  sow  fruit  and  another  weeds ; the  law  is  imperative 
only  in  its  declaration,  — ‘‘No  man  can  gather  grapes 
from  thorns,  or  figs  from  thistles.”  If  any  one  desires 
figs  he  must  cultivate  fig-trees,  for  figs  will  grow  upon 
no  other  boughs.  If  one  desire  grapes  he  must  culti- 
vate grape-vines,  for  grapes  are  produced  nowhere  else 
and  in  no  other  manner.  Thus  we  cannot  say  that 
men  are  either  rewarded  or  punished  in  the  conven- 
tional usage  of  these  terms,  but  all  take  the  conse- 
quences of  their  own  acts,  be  those  acts  at  a given  time 
remembered  or  forgotten,  and  the  consequence  is  itself 
at  all  times,  under  all  circumstances,  the  best  thing 
which  could  possibly  happen  to  the  person  who  rejoices 
or  suffers  by  reason  of  its  happening. 

Such  puerile  absurdities  as  an  illustration  drawn  from 
whipping  a dog  for  the  wrong  it  committed  when  a 
puppy,  put  forward  with  all  the  assumption  and  dignity 
imaginable,  in  “ The  Light  [more  correctly  the  darkness] 


LECTURE  X. 


183 


of  Egypt,”  prove  the  person  who  used  so  ridiculous  and 
false  an  analogy  to  be  anything  but  enlightened  on  the 
question  he  perverts.  To  take  up  his  own  dog  and 
puppy  simile,  we  can  prove  his  reasoning  false  on  his 
own  ground;  for  had  he  understood  the  doctrine  he 
assails  he  would  have  known  that  in  its  reference  to 
canines  as  well  as  men  it  would  operate  thus : A man 
(or  a dog)  has  contracted  an  injurious  habit  when  a 
youth  (or  a pnppy),  the  consequence  of  which  has 
entailed  upon  him  certain  suffering,  which  suffering 
grows  out  of  the  act  itself:  such  suffering  is  not  a 
judicial  punishment  in  the  popular  sense ; it  is  a result, 
and  as  such  in  no  way  dependent  upon  memory  or  for- 
getfulness of  the  act  which  occasioned  it.  Now  if  the 
penalty  following  the  act  proceeds  from  the  act  as  natu- 
rally as  grapes  grow  on  grape-vines  and  figs  on  fig-trees, 
how  can  one  pronounce  the  suffering  in  any  arbitrary 
sense  a punishment?  But  our  philosophy  does  not 
desert  us  at  that  point  by  any  means;  it  carries  us 
much  further  into  an  understanding  of  universal  recti- 
tude, by  assuring  us  that  the  penalty  is  educational 
and  remedial.  Thus  what  we  suffer  is  not  intended  to 
punish  us  for  doing  amiss,  but  to  lead  us  to  where  we 
shall  not  err  in  future.  The  best  medical  doctors  all 
agree  that  pain  serves  a double  end ; it  calls  our  atten- 
tion to  some  error,  and  at  the  same  time  is  caused  by 
an  effort  of  nature  to  heal  a wound ; consequently  we 
do  not  need  nor  should  we  seek  exemption  from  pen- 
alty, but  deliverance  from  the  ignorant  or  perverse 
mental  state  which  occasions  suffering,  and  which  is 
outgrown  by  means  of  suffering.  The  whole  doctrine 


184 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


of  Karma  when  reasonably  explained  is  a simple  recog- 
nition of  the  perpetual  operation  of  immutable  cause 
and  effect.  Sin  produces  suffering,  and  suffering  wipes 
out  the  sin ; just  as  when  one’s  garments  are  stained 
they  need  cleansing,  and  to  cleanse  them  means  work. 

The  present  system  of  incarcerating  criminals  appears 
to  us  entirely  wrong,  while  capital  punishment  is  an 
offense  against  reason,  justice,  and  humanity.  Hospi- 
tals, penitentiaries,  industrial  schools  (miscalled  such), 
lunatic  asylums,  and  a host  of  other  semi-barbaric  insti- 
tutions are  no  safeguards  against  crime;  those  who 
advocate  them  as  necessities  are  utterly  blind  to  the 
real  wants  of  society.  The  idea  of  punitive  expiation 
seems  to  have  so  befogged  the  minds  of  a majority,  that 
it  is  well-nigh  impossible  to  all  at  once  clear  the  mental 
air  sufficiently  to  let  in  the  light  of  reason  upon  the 
popular  mind  concerning  this  subject.  No  life  is  for 
punishment,  no  experience  is  to  pay  some  one  out  in  a 
harsh,  vindictive  sense  for  some  error  of  a previous 
existence ; but  effects  will  follow  causes  in  the  natural 
order,  and  hence,  if  the  effect  of  previous  folly  is  pres- 
ent suffering,  is  not  that  suffering  a result  which 
cannot  be  avoided,  and  which  will  in  due  time  pro- 
duce the  peaceable  fruit  of  righteousness?  Theosophy 
teaches  that  all  souls  are  equal ; that  the  first  expres- 
sion of  every  soul  is  at  the  foot  of  the  ladder  of  prog- 
ress ; every  rung  is  a distinct  term  of  experience,  while 
the  spaces  between  the  rungs  are  periods  passed  in  the 
invisible  state.  During  the  interim  between  embodi- 
ments the  soul  is  neither  unconscious  or  inactive,  but 
still  moving  forward,  till,  when  that  stage  of  experience 


LECTURE  X. 


185 


is  at  an  end,  the  next  ultimated  expression,  though  in  a 
material  form,  is  always  the  next  step  in  the  forward 
order. 

Some  very  vulgar  errors  are  exceedingly  common, 
and  among  them  none  more  prevalent  than  the  belief 
that  reward  ” and  punishment  ” can  be  determined 
by  one’s  outward  circumstances ; that  the  rich  are 
always  favored  while  the  poor  are  invariably  under 
chastisement,  is  a very  popular  but  most  insane  mistake. 
Some  rich  people  are  very  happy  while  others  are 
wretched ; the  same  is  true  of  the  poor ; neither  riches 
nor  poverty  can  then  be  regarded  as  indicators  of  spirit- 
ual, moral,  or  intellectual  status ; but  wherever  we  find 
real  nobility,  sweet  contentment,  and  pure  enjoyment, 
in  a word,  blessed  satisfaction  with  one’s  condition 
whatever  it  may  be,  we  witness  tokens  of  spiritual 
unfoldment.  All  that  we  can  ever  see  our  way  to  teach 
or  advocate  on  this  subject  of  successive  embodiments 
is,  that  in  the  cycle  of  the  ages  everything  is  equalized, 
no  one  is  favored  above  another ; those  who  are  now 
born  in  the  inferior  races  will  some  way  be  born  in  the 
superior ; those  who  are  now  superior  have  once  been 
inferior ; all  start  at  one  point,  all  ultimately  arrive  at 
one  goal.  The  manifold  discrepancies  of  the  present 
will  all  be  cleared  up  in  the  light  of  the  future,  so  that 
we  shall  all  realize  that  whatever  occurs  is  for  the 
best;  every  obstacle  we  meet  we  need  to  encounter 
and  overcome. 

But  before  we  can  grasp  this  philosophy  we  must 
study  the  nature  of  death. 

Death  to  a Theosophist  means  death  to  old  conditions. 


186 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


the  death  of  the  animal  instincts,  followed  by  a resur- 
rection to  spiritual  consciousness,  which,  like  a glorious 
Phoenix  bursts  its  bonds  when  freed  from  the  control 
of  earthly  passions.  This  death  is  truly  represented  by 
the  butterfly  emerging  from  the  chrysalis,  or  by  such 
emblems  as  the  Easter  egg.  Death  is  a casting-off  of 
an  outer  shell,  deliverance  from  the  trammels  of  the 
senses,  as  the  spiritual  life-principle  works  its  way  up- 
ward. Resurrection  is  the  triumph  of  spirit  over  the 
thralldom  of  sense.  A great  deal  in  all  of  us  needs  to 
die.  As  animals  we  die  never  to  rise  again;  but  when 
our  outer  clothing  is  cast  aside,  we,  ix.  our  real  selves, 
ascend  to  higher  states  of  conscious  life.  Death,  when 
understood  in  its  true  significance,  means  spiritual  ele- 
vation, not  physical  dissolution.  The  apostle  Paul 
rightly  exclaims,  O death,  where  is  thy  sting  ? O 
grave,  where  is  thy  victory?”  In  this  saying,  his 
meaning  is  that  death  is  only  a casting  aside  of  an  out- 
grown shell,  as  a once  imprisoned  bird  breaks  from  its 
calcareous  environment,  and  rejoices  in  deliverance 
from  its  prison.  There  would  be  no  fear  of  death  if 
people  did  not  depend  on  the  body  for  happiness.  We 
should  be  willing  to  wear  it,  and  use  it  as  long  as  we 
need  it,  but  be  ready  to  cast  it  off  when  it  can  be  of  no 
further  use,  with  no  doubt  of  the  spirit-world  being  a 
better  state  than  this.  Strive  to  make  it  a matter  of 
perfect  indifference  to  you  whether  you  remain  here  or 
go  hence.  We  are  always  at  work  in  the  spiritual  uni- 
verse. There  is  no  real  difference  to  the  spirit  between 
birth  and  death,  and  as  we  rise  to  a consciousness  of 
our  real  being  we  deny  that  we  ever  were  born  or  ever 


LECTURE  X. 


187 


can  die ; we  realize  that  we  are  forever.  We  affirm 
that  we  have  nothing  to  fear  from  death,  and  we 
thereby  overcome  its  power  to  bereave  us  of  what  we 
prize  and  love.  Those  who  live  in  the  spirit  pass  to 
the  unseen  state  without  any  suffering ; they  gradually 
dismiss  their  physical  environment,  until  the  ultimate 
stage  appears  only  like  passing  through  a beautiful 
gateway  of  transition,  as  it  appeared  to  those  great 
adepts,  Enoch  and  Elijah.  Is  it  necessary  that  a house 
should  tumble  down  because  we  are  ready  to  move  out 
of  it?  need  the  body  we  are  ready  to  vacate  first  be- 
come foul  and  loathsome?  The  true  philosophy  of 
Being  is  expressed  in  Longfellow’s  immortal  couplet, 
‘‘  Dust  thou  art,  to  dust  returnest,  was  not  spoken  of 
the  souiy  Soul  has  a prior  existence  to  the  body,  and 
‘‘returns  to  God  who  gave  it.”  The  experience  of  a 
spirit  on  earth  may  be  likened  to  that  of  a child  at  a 
boarding-school,  or  of  a youth  while  an  apprentice  to 
a trade  away  from  home.  He  remembers  his  home  with 
love,  and  enjoys  it  on  his  return  as  he  never  could  have 
enjoyed  it  had  he  never  left  it.  The  “ elder  brother  ” 
of  the  Prodigal  Son,  though  ^67^fallen  was  the  inferior 
of  the  two,  as  he  had  not  the  tender  loving  spirit  of  the 
father  toward  his  brother,  who,  though  fallen,  had  risen 
again.  The  prodigal,  who  returned  to  his  home,  had 
fought  life’s  battle,  and  won  its  prize.  We  develop 
from  manhood  to  angelhood,  as  a child  develops  from 
infancy  to  maturity.  The  glory  of  the  angel  does  not 
equal  that  of  the  archangel,  but  the  archangel  was  once 
a man,  as  the  man  was  once  an  infant.  All  reflections 
that  lead  to  an  intelligent  recognition  of  Theosophy 


188 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


bring  us  to  a point  where  we  comprehend  the  true  rela- 
tions of  spirit  and  body  here  and  hereafter ; they  there- 
fore aid  us  practically  to  an  incalculable  extent  in  our 
endeavors  to  effectually  banish  all  errors  and  supersti- 
tions which  produce  misery  on  earth. 

We  regard  the  physical  body  as  a necessary  tool  in 
the  hands  of  a spiritual  workman.  Our  bodies  are  con- 
structed for  a definite  purpose ; they  are  tools  for  work 
as  well  as  dresses  to  wear.  They  are  brought  into  ex- 
istence from  necessity.  The  spirit  forms  its  body  as  a 
workman  constructs  his  tools.  If  the  question  arises, 
Why,  then,  do  we  not  all  have  the  bodies  we  would 
like?”  we  must  bear  in  mind  that  we  cannot  always 
externalize  our  thought  perfectly,  even  in  the  making 
of  a dress  or  coat.  We  have  not  as  yet  perfect  power 
over  material,  even  with  the  best  patterns  before  us. 
People  are  often  very  much  dissatisfied  with  their  own 
efforts,  and  much  prefer  the  workmanship  of  others. 
The  ideal  always  antedates  the  actual;  a perfect  ex- 
pression of  the  ideal  is  reserved  for  a condition  in  this 
world,  or  some  other,  where  we  have  gained  complete 
ascendency  over  all  material ; then  we  shall  be  clothed 
upon  with  bodies  of  glorious  spiritual  form.  There  is 
no  such  thing  as  creation  of  substance,  but  only  creation 
of  form.  Forms  come  and  go,  substance  abides.  When 
bodies  are  formed  nothing  comes  into  heing^  and  when 
they  die  nothing  goes  out  of  being:  there  is  only  a 
change  in  appearance.  Creation  is  organization,  ex- 
pression ; seeming  death  is  simply  dematerialization, 
the  disappearance  of  some  object  from  the  realm  of 
mortal  perception.  From  the  standpoint  of  the  Eternal 


LECTURE  X. 


189 


there  can  be  no  death.  There  can  be  no  change  in 
divine  law,  but  there  is  frequently  great  change  in  our 
conception  of  it ; there  can  be  no  change  in  truth,  but 
only  in  our  views  of  truth.  All  outward  things  change, 
because  outward  things  are  manifestations  of  finite  ideas: 
all  intelligence  moves  in  incessant  but  ever-diversified 
activity.  Why  do  worlds  change,  why  do  they  advance 
from  infancy  to  old  age,  and  thence  to  reabsorption 
into  the  element  whence  they  sprang  ? Their  changes 
from  first  to  last  are  resultant  from  the  condition  of 
some  unseen  mind  working  out  its  capabilities  in  ex- 
pression. An  organ  may  remain  in  one  condition 
during  all  the  years  you  are  studying  music,  but  you 
are  capable  of  evolving  at  one  time  far  more  intricate 
harmonies  from  it  than  you  could  at  another;  the 
capacity  of  the  organ  has  not  changed,  but  the  musician 
has ; the  organ  has  never  been  educated,  but  you  have. 
Planets  and  human  bodies,  as  we  behold  them  out- 
wardly, are  constantly  acted  upon  by  intelligences  who 
are  always  advancing. 

The  story  of  Pygmalion  and  Galatea,  in  which  the 
statue  comes  to  life  and  is  made  to  speak,  is  illustrative 
of  the  truth  of  spiritual  evolution.  The  sculptor  pro- 
duces a marble  form  by  means  of  his  intellect  and 
affections,  which  somewhat  embodies  his  ideal ; he 
breathes  his  life  into  the  work  of  his  own  hands;  it 
could  never  become  himself : still  the  statue  was  made 
to  breathe.  Man’s  outward  form  can  have  no  life  in 
itself,  but  it  is  an  animated  statue  made  by  the  soul ; it 
is  will  and  affection  manifest  in  form.  We  may  even 
fancy  the  soul’s  animated  statue  to  have  a wavering, 


190 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


wandering  will  of  its  own,  which  often  knows  better 
than  it  does.  Everything  we  call  objective  in  mineral, 
vegetable,  or  animal  form,  expresses  some  mental  con- 
dition ; it  is  an  embodied  result  of  mental  breath,  but 
not  always  a faithful  reproduction  of  the  one  who 
breathes.  Human  souls  have  doubtless  lived  for  ages 
before  they  expressed  themselves  in  mortal  form.  Man 
is  the  creator  of  everything  below  him.  It  is  far  more 
reasonable  to  state  that  the  action  of  a human  mind 
made  a monkey  than  that  man  ever  was  a monkey. 
Man,  as  a spiritual  entity,  is  now  and  always  in  the 
spiritual  world.  If  our  thought  has  passed  through  the 
animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms,  they  have  naturally 
proceeded  from  the  mind  of  man  previous  to  his  build- 
ing a form,  in  which  his  thought  could  more  perfectly 
express  itself.  We  can  only  understand  evolution  in  the 
light  of  involution.  We  never  are  embodied;  we  live 
now  and  ever  in  the  spiritual  state,  but  the  soul  gives 
forth  various  impulsions,  which  produce  forms,  and 
endow  them  with  more  or  less  perfection.  When  we 
rise  to  conceive  of  ourselves  as  we  really  are,  we  shall 
know  that  we  have  never  been  on  earth  at  all,  our  real 
selves  have  created  mortal  forms,  and  endowed  them 
with  life,  as  the  sculptor  created  and  endowed  the  statue. 

The  next  question  which  arises,  is,  ^‘How  can  we 
know  each  other  in  spirit?”  We  know  each  other  in 
soul-life  by  nothing  that  is  manifest  to  sense.  Do  we 
any  of  us  really  know  ourselves  ? does  the  lower  know 
the  higher  nature?  Most  people  live  so  much  in  the 
lower  nature  that  they  cannot  know  themselves  in 
spirit.  The  fall  of  man  ” is  his  losing  sight  of  his 


LECTURE  X. 


191 


spiritual  nature  amid  the  busy  scenes  of  external  activ- 
ity. The  lower  ego  must  find  the  higher  ego  before 
man  can,  in  any  true  sense,  be  said  to  know  himself. 
In  the  deepest  sense  we  never  had  mothers,  and  never 
were  born.  Our  spiritual  being  did  not  commence  with 
mortal  birth,  but  our  spiritual  entity  was  the  cause  of 
physical  conception.  Spirit  causes  mothers  to  become 
mothers  through  a spiritual  impulse,  too  often  unrecog- 
nized. No  woman  can  give  life  to  a child.  We  ac- 
knowledge spiritual  Deity  and  spiritual  humanity. 
Man  must  come  to  an  understanding  of  his  true  self, 
and  of  the  principle  of  spiritual  being,  before  he  can 
know  his  own  soul,  and  walk  in  the  light  of  the  Spirit, 
which  is  the  only  true  Being. 


[original  poem.] 

THE  LAW  OF  GROWTH:  THE  PRIOR  EXISTENCE  OF  THE  SOUL,  ITS 
EARTHLY  DISCIPLINE,  AND  RETURN  TO  ITS  PRIMAL  HOME. 

From  the  sphere  of  spirit,  the  realm  of  the  soul, 
The  spirit  descends  to  earth. 

And  here  takes  on  its  external  form, 

Born  of  earth’s  changeful  birth. 

For  here  it  must  strive  for  a while 
On  the  earth  with  all  forms  of  sense. 

To  develop  all  power  from  within  itself, 

And  gain  wonderful  recompense. 

The  soul  in  the  realm  of  the  soul  above 
Is  like  an  unplanted  seed, 


192 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


Like  a beautiful  acorn  that  yet  will  grow 
To  an  oak,  whose  living  seed 
Shall  be  scattered  through  distant  ages, 

Over  ocean,  land,  and  sea ; v 

Through  the  many  worlds  that  roll  in  space, 

Amid  heaven’s  immensity. 

The  law  of  growth  is  this  wonderful  law, 

That  the  spirit  contains  within 
Whatever  power  or  majesty 
Is  unfolded;  for  it  can  win 
No  added  power  by  the  earth’s  control, 

Though  earth  can  display  the  power  of  soul. 

Like  a seed  that  is  planted  deep  in  the  earth 
Nothing  is  added  thereto. 

Though  the  rains  have  descended,  the  sunbeams 
shone. 

Though  the  balmiest  zephyrs  blew; 

Though  man  should  cultivate  the  soil 
And  irrigate  with  care 
The  place  where  the  seed  is  sheltered. 

Yet  the  harvest  will  declare 
The  special  form  of  the  special  seed. 

And  no  other  can  spring  from  the  seed. 

But  the  body  expressed  as  that  special  flower. 

For  God  gives  to  each  seed  its  especial  dower. 

If  the  soul  of  man  is  embodied  here. 

And  bound  to  the  earth  for  a while. 

Like  an  alien  pilgrim  away  from  home, 

While  the  heavens  above  it  smile; 

If  weary  and  worn  and  ofttimes  sad, 

The  spirit  shall  turn  for  light 


LECTURE  X. 


193 


And  ask  of  the  rolling  orbs  above, 

For  their  testimony  bright; 

And  ask  of  the  wondrous  fields  of  space, 

Oh,  what  is  God’s  decree  ? ” 

All  worlds  and  all  souls  will  answer  that 
Throughout  eternity 

The  law  of  growth  by  God’s  mighty  power 
Ordains  the  expanding  seed, 

And  its  outward  manifestation  here 
Of  what  is  within  — indeed 

It  may  seem  that  all  earthly  care, 

That  all  earthly  pain  and  loss. 

And  all  the  burdens  one  may  bear 
And  the  heavy  weight  of  the  cross. 

Are  unneeded  by  the  soul, 

And  you  may  complain  to  God 
And  ask  the  wherefore  and  the  why 
Of  griefs  that  spring  from  the  sod. 

But  angel  hosts  in  their  bright  array 
Would  bring  you  this  wonderful  dower, 
Would  tell  you  that  all  their  glorious  songs, 
Which  are  their  spirit’s  fiower; 

That  all  the  music  and  the  crown. 

And  the  brightest  lights  above. 

Are  answers  to  the  spirit’s  cry 
For  more  room  to  unfold  its  love. 

If  among  the  cherubs  and  seraphs  fair 
A soul  to  its  master  shall  say, 

^^Oh,  may  I go  down  to  toil  on  the  earth 
And  travel  life’s  mystic  way  ? 


194 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


I see  the  archangels  passing  fair. 

In  their  hierarchies  of  light, 

And  I know  though  innocent  and  pure  — 

My  robes  are  not  so  bright. 

hear  of  their  deeds  of  great  renown, 

I read  in  their  love-lit  eyes 
The  wonderful  story  of  victory  gained; 

And  when  I with  ecstasy 
Look  on  you  my  angel  guide,  I ask, 

^ Why  am  I not  such  as  thee  ? ’ 

The  angel  answers  the  infant  soul. 

My  child,  if  you  come  to  me 
And  ask  of  my  glory  and  wondrous  state. 
Inquiring  the  reason  why, 

I must  tell  yon  of  struggle  on  many  a world, 
In  many  a time  passed  by; 

^^Of  the  gate  of  birth  and  the  gate  of  death 
Ere  my  soul  was  rounded  forth 
In  the  splendor  of  that  innocence 
Which  triumphed  over  wrath; 

In  the  splendor  of  that  perfect  love 
And  of  that  wisdom  bright 
That  links  me  to  the  radiant  realms 
Of  cloudless  heavenly  light.’^ 

If  the  soul  shall  again  exclaim, 

^‘1  would  be  such  as  thee; 

Is  there  no  way  whereby  I may 
Gain  such  a high  degree? 

Are  there  no  means  for  me  to  trace 
The  pathway  to  the  skies  ? 


LECTURE  X, 


195 


Oh ! can  I never  wear  the  crown, 

Can  there  never  in  my  eyes 

Shine  that  light  of  wisdom  divine 
Which  in  yours  is  more  bright  than  day  ? 
The  angel  makes  answer : “ The  way  is  dark 
And  long,  and  thou  must  stray 
For  many  a cycle  far  from  those 
To  you  the  dearest  and  best. 

And  toil  on  earth  full  many  a time 
Till  thy  soul  is  fully  blest/^ 

Then  the  fairy  child  of  angelic  light. 

The  cherub  and  seraph  fair. 

Consents,  yea,  desires  to  leave  its  home 
And  the  beauties  over  there. 

For  into  the  waters  of  Lethe’’  dark 
The  soul  must  needs  descend, 

And  then  a child  is  born  on  earth; 

As  the  soul  its  path  doth  wend 
Adown  from  the  skies  so  fair. 

The  trailing  light  from  above 
But  dimly  lights  its  earthly  way. 

And  dimly  foreshadows  its  love. 

And  a child  is  born  with  many  a tear, 

And  imprisoned  a while  in  sense. 

The  captive  spirit  must  sigh  and  groan 
And  patiently  wait  its  recompense. 

But  after  all  toils  of  earth. 

When  the  battle  is  fought  and  won. 

When  the  life  of  the  spirit  is  rounded  out, 
Then  more  glorious  than  the  sun  — 


196 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


Not  cherub  nor  seraph,  but  angel  bright, 

At  length  an  archangel  fair. 

In  one  of  the  highest  spheres  of  heaven  — 

The  soul  can  then  declare; 

have  fought  the  fight,  I have  won  my  crown,’^ 
For  the  soul  goes  back  again. 

Like  the  prodigal  returning  home. 

With  experience  not  in  vain. 

And  the  soul  then  turns  to  the  angel  guide. 

Who  makes  answer,  ^^Thouht  such  as  I, 

For  the  life  thou  hast  lived,  the  toil  thou  hast  borne, 
Has  lifted  thy  spirit  on  high.^^ 

Then  all  the  ages,  the  weary  years. 

Full  of  trials  and  sorrows  below. 

To  quickened  memory  pass  along 
As  a wondrous  fantastic  show: 

And  the  panorama  is  all  outspread, 

And  the  many  lives  in  one. 

Like  many  a link  in  a golden  chain, 

Will  prove  how  the  work  is  done. 

Through  long,  long  growth  to  the  perfect  tree 
From  the  little  angelic  seed. 

Is  the  souhs  unfoldment  to  perfect  light. 

For  life  is  blest  indeed. 

And  you  need  not  complain,  you  need  not  sigh, 

And  you  never  need  shed  a tear. 

For  all  the  burdens  that  here  you  bear. 

Though  they  last  through  many  a year. 

Are  at  length  exchanged  for  a crown  of  light 
Where  the  flowers  can  ne’er  decay, 


LECTURE  X. 


197 


And  the  victory  gained^  through  eternal  years 
Is  your  joy,  and  your  light  will  stay. 

Then  work  ye  well  and  bear  your  load 
Whatever  the  burden  be, 

Knowing  your  earthly  discipline 
For  a glad  immortality 
Is  for  growth  to  the  planted  seed 
Which,  pure  as  a snow-white  dove, 

Finds  at  length  in  the  home  divine 
Perfect  wisdom  blent  with  love. 


LECTURE  XL 


A FUETHEK  STUDY  OF  EMBODIMENT.  — THE  LAW  OF 

KAEMA  (sequence),  AND  HOW  IT  OPEEATES  IN 

DAILY  LIFE. 

The  preceding  lecture  has  led  us  up  to  where  we 
can  affirm  that  though  all  spirit  is  in  essence  good,  it 
needs  experience  to  unfold  its  capacities.  The  soul 
prior  to  embodiment  is  like  an  unplanted  seed  ; physical 
form  gives  it  opportunity  to  expand.  Many  think  that 
souls  come  to  earth  merely  for  expression,  in  the  smaller 
sense  of  that  word;  but  if  after  a struggle  through 
many  existences  the  soul  were  only  converted  to  its 
primal  state,  all  effort  and  earthly  discipline  would  be 
of  no  avail  whatever.  All  souls  are  equally  pure  in 
essence  ; but  the  soul  is  not  powerful  like  God ; it  has 
no  such  knowledge  as  God  possesses.  If  our  knowl- 
edge is  finite  and  His  is  infinite,  there  must  be  an  infinite 
difference  between  infinite  and  finite  power;  therefore 
we  can  understand  eternal  progression,  which  means 
our  unending  advancement  in  power  and  knowledge. 
God  is  the  only  infinite : He  is  all-powerful  Love  and 
Wisdom.  Eternal  good-will,  the  pure  beneficence  of 
the  Infinite  brings  all  beings  into  existence  and  endows 
them  with  the  power  and  privilege  of  perpetually  draw- 
ing nearer  to  Him  in  their  own  consciousness.  We  are 


LECTURE  XI. 


199 


constantly  advancing  nearer  to  infinite  knowledge  and 
power,  but  the  goal  is  always  beyond  us.  The  human 
soul  is  as  pure  as  God,  but  capable  of  infinite  advance- 
ment in  knowledge.  Souls  are  embodied  on  earth  to 
acquire  and  to  unfold^  as  well  as  to  express.  The  efforts 
of  finite  souls  bring  worlds  and  bodies  into  existence. 
As  soon  as  we  have  learned  all  we  can  in  this  present 
state,  and  there  is  therefore  no  longer  need  of  our  fur- 
ther embodiment  on  earth,  we  advance  to  a higher 
planet.  When  we  have  outgrown  all  love  of  earth  and 
all  yearning  for  it,  we  shall  live  only  in  spirit ; but  so 
long  as  we  retain  earthly  attractions,  they  will  draw  us 
into  realms  where  earthly  experiences  can  be  gained. 
The  earth  is  a magnet  to  us  until  we  have  overcome  all 
sensuous  attraction,  and  put  away  all  childish  things  ” 
through  the  higher  development  of  understanding.  We 
are  drawn  to  earth  just  so  long  as  any  desire  for  earthly 
things  lurks  within  us,  and  we  are  often  brought  (seem- 
ingly) involuntarily  into  whatever  outward  state  corre- 
sponds to  our  mental  condition.  When  we  attain  to 
that  perfect  state  of  growth  of  which  neither  eye  nor 
ear  nor  heart  can  yet  conceive,  we  reach  the  true 
“home  of  the  soul,”  the  eternal  world,  or  “kingdom  of 
heaven,”  the  absolute  Nirvana  of  unalloyed  and  perpet- 
ual bliss.  We  have  then  reached  the  end  of  our  jour- 
ney, so  far  as  our  spiritual  pilgrimage  is  at  present 
perceived  by  any  of  us.  What  further  heights  there 
may  be  for  us  to  climb,  in  states  beyond  our  present 
conception,  altogether  removed  from  time  and  sense, 
none  should  attempt  dogmatically  to  decide ; though  of 
this  we  may  feel  assured,  that  the  conscious  immortal 


200 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


entity,  the  real  ego^  will  be  forever  reaching  out  to  a 
yet  more  glorious  destiny. 

In  the  Kabala  the  statement  is  made  that  all  worlds 
and  forms  are  brought  into  existence,  not  by  En-Soph 
(Supreme  Wisdom)  directly,  but  through  the  action  of 
subordinate  deities  designated  Elohim,  There  can  be 
only  one  supreme  life,  infinitely  good ; but  the  one  con- 
tains the  multitude.  Souls  always  have  existed  and 
always  will.  In  the  eternal  world  it  is  always  now. 
Each  individual  soul  can  say  ‘‘I  am  that  I am”  in  being ^ 
though  not  in  existence.  Existence  is  but  an  external 
manifestation  of  being.  The  unembodied  soul  is  as 
perfectly  pure  and  divine  as  the  Eternal  Soul,  in  the 
sense  of  spotless  innocence  at  least.  In  our  highest 
conception  of  ourselves  we  know  we  are  perfectly  pure, 
but  we  must  learn  to  distinguish  carefully  between  the 
divine  soul  (Atma)  and  the  human  soul.  The  divine  soul 
creates  (or  emanates)  the  individual  human  spirit ; the 
divine  soul  is  the  ultimate  atom  of  self-conscious  life 
which  physical  scientists  have  never  discovered ; they 
can  only  discover  molecules  and  monads,  which  are 
aggregations  of  atoms,  but  never  do  they  find  an  atom. 
The  absolute  atom  is  entirely  beyond  recognition  by 
means  of  the  five  bodily  senses,  and  can  only  be  appre- 
hended spiritually.  This  divine  atom,  in  its  endeavor 
to  express  itself,  creates  the  spiritual  soul,”  which  is  a 
secondary  emanation ; the  divine  soul  belongs  to  the 
Elohim^  and  is  a child  of  God.  It  is  the  human  spirit 
which  needs  earthly  discipline  and  experience.  Now 
we  cannot  any  of  us  begin  at  the  top  of  the  ladder. 
Everything  originates  in  spirit;  matter  is  the  lowest 


LECTURE  XI. 


201 


vibration  of  spirit.  We  see  everything  on  earth,  as  it 
were,  through  inverted  lenses,  for  we  see  effects  without 
their  causes.  Jacob’s  ladder  symbolizes  embodiment  for 
experience ; it  represents  the  descent  of  spirit  into 
matter  and  its  return  to  its  source.  There  can  be  no 
self-existent  matter;  there  is  but  one  eternal  homoge- 
neous substance,  but  this  is  heterogeneously  expressed. 
Matter  is  the  lowest  expression  of  this  one  substance, 
and  is  non-existent  in  the  realm  of  cause,  for  in  absolute 
reality  all  is  Spirit.  The  esoteric  doctrine  admits 
matter  only  as  an  appearance  in  time  to  sense : spirit 
alone  is  both  Alpha  and  Omega.  The  spiritual  soul, 
the  human  soul,  and  the  animal  soul  form  a trinity  in 
expression ; but  the  Atma  is  the  sole  origin  of  all.  The 
spiritual  soul  is  expressed  through  intuition,  the  human 
soul  through  reason,  and  the  animal  soul  through  in- 
stinct. We  all  possess  these  three  so-called  principles. 
Intuition  is  a moral  sense,  reason  is  purely  intellectual, 
while  instinct  is  animal  perception.  We  outgrow  ani- 
mal perception  as  we  lose  hope  in  certainty  and  belief 
in  knowledge,  or  as  we  lose  the  shell  when  the  bird 
emerges  from  it,  and  the  bud  as  it  becomes  the 
flower : we  shall  at  length  conquer  all  limitation.  The- 
osophists  usually  place  the  human  soul  (intellectual 
principle)  between  the  animal  soul  which  tends  to  earth 
and  the  spiritual  soul  which  soars  heavenward : though 
intellect  may  often  aspire,  it  is  constantly  vibrating  and 
faltering  in  its  allegiance  between  spirit  and  matter.  It 
is  for  each  individual  to  decide  whether  he  will  volun- 
tarily unite  himself  with  the  spiritual  universe,  or  re- 
main susceptible  to  lower  influences.  If  he  choose  the 


202 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


latter,  it  must  result  in  moral  suicide  or  death.  Each 
one  must  individually  decide  whether  he  will  live  after 
the  flesh  or  in  the  spirit.  Herein  is  contained  the  mean- 
ing of  all  allegories  setting  forth  the  temptation  and 
fall  of  man.  If  there^were  no  lower  states  in  the  uni- 
verse, we  could  not  reach  the  higher.  Intellectual  cul- 
ture alone  is  not  sufficient  for  mankind,  for  many 
intellectual  people  give  themselves  to  vice.  The  spir- 
itual soul,  through  intuition,  like  a good  genius,  is  ever 
urging  us  onward  and  upward ; while  our  evil  genius 
(animal  soul)  is  ever  attracting  us  downward  toward 
its  own  plane.  The  fourth  principle  in  man  (animal 
soul)  must  be  the  servant  of  the  flfth,  and  the  fifth  of 
the  sixth,  or  chaos  (discord)  is  inevitable.  This  sub- 
ordination of  the  lower  to  the  higher  answers  the  old 
question  concerning  good  and  evil,  light  and  shadow, 
which  constitute  the  foreground  and  background  of 
existence ; but  it  is  light  that  reigns  forever ; the 
shadow  does  its  work  and  is  then  absorbed  in  the  light 
which  alone  made  it  possible.  In  the  light  of  re-em- 
bodiment, the  idea  of  punishment  is  partly  true  and 
partly  false.  By  punishment  we  do  not  mean  retalia- 
tion, but  means  for  unfoldment,  education,  and  expan- 
sion through  suffering.  We  must  understand  what  we 
are,  before  we  can  comprehend  our  mission,  or  con- 
ceive why  we  are  embodied  at  all.  Man  spiritually 
is  a perfect  unit ; in  manifestation,  a trinity  in  unity  : 
the  upward-pointing  triangle  represents  the  mental,  the 
moral,  and  the  spiritual  in  man,  while  at  the  centre 
shines  the  central  sun,  Atma^  the  true  Ego^  the  indi- 
vidualizing principle,  which  is  forever  the  child  of  God, 


LECTURE  XI. 


203 


and,  like  its  divine  Author,  incapable  of  sin,  sickness, 
or  sorrow. 

Varying  degrees  of  unfoldment  account  for  differ- 
ences in  people,  but  these  differences  are  only  external. 
The  divine  soul  of  man  is  the  child  of  God,  and  never 
varies  from  goodness  or  holiness ; the  soul  being  per- 
fect in  purity,  even  while  expressed  on  earth.  When 
we  sin,  we  do  not  live  in  union  with  this  divine  prin- 
ciple. All  we  recognize  of  ourselves  ordinarily  is  very 
much  less  than  our  true  selves ; we  have  never  made  a 
full  discovery  of  what  we  are,  or  of  our  real  powers. 
Sons  of  men,  in  rare  instances  only,  have  come  to 
know  they  are  sons  of  God.  Many  have  come  to  a 
better  understanding  of  this  divine  truth  than  others. 
Whenever  we  dwell  on  the  successive  embodiments  of 
spirit,  we  endeavor  to  show  that  all  is  in  harmony  with 
God’s  perfect  law  of  justice,  in  consequence  of  which 
there  can  be  no  respect  of  persons.  The  Buddhist  doc- 
trine of  Karma  is  simply  an  Oriental  mode  of  portray- 
ing divine  justice  as  always  acting  impartially ; its 
entire  philosophy  is  a vindication  of  divine  justice  in 
an  application  of  the  law  of  spiritual  involution  and 
physical  evolution  in  every  individual  case.  The  doc- 
trine of  evolution  teaches  falsity  when  not  interpreted 
spiritually.  How  often  we  hear  of  a man’s  being  super- 
latively gifted,  when  in  reality  his  gifts  are  powers 
acquired  in  a previous  expression  of  his  soul  when  he 
worked  as  others  work  now  who  are  acquiring  similar 
gifts.  There  is  no  way  of  justly  explaining  the  marked 
differences  between  people  which  we  all  observe,  but 
by  the  law  of  Karma,  or  sequence.  If  all  persons  to-day 


204 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


enjoyed  equal  knowledge  of  truth,  all  would  appear 
equal ; if  we  all  knew  the  right  and  did  it,  we  should 
be  entirely  free  from  pain  and  trouble ; but  do  we  all, 
in  our  present  expression,  have  equal  opportunities  of 
knowing  the  truth  ? Are  there  not  multitudes  on  earth 
to-day  who  have  no  adequate  opportunity  of  acquiring 
spiritual  knowledge  ? The  reason  is  found  in  the  law 
of  Karma,  which  Theosophy  explains. 

Karma  regulates  our  opportunities.  In  the  use  we 
make  of  them  we  create  good,  and  in  misuse,  or  failure 
to  utilize  opportunity,  we  make  evil  Karma.  One  may 
have  the  opportunity  to  learn  certain  things,  while  his 
nearest  friend  may  be  so  situated  as  to  never  find  such 
knowledge  within  his  reach.  Why?  because  he  had 
not  grown  to  meet  such  opportunity.  Then  in  relation 
to  external  affairs,  take  an  example : Two  persons  may 
advertise  for  a position ; one  obtains  a favorable  reply, 
another  receives  none.  Thus  does  Karma  operate  in 
daily  life.  Some  persons  have  ‘‘gifts”  others  cannot 
cultivate.  But  remember  we  are  never  at  a standstill; 
we  are  making  Karma  perpetually.  Our  past  has  made 
our  present,  and  our  present  is  making  our  future.  We 
only  live  one  life  after  all,  but  our  experience  of  life  is 
divided  into  many  parts,  and  just  as  our  present  is  the 
result  of  our  past,  our  next  condition  will  be  the  result 
of  our  present  efforts,  for  we  are  incessantly  manufac- 
turing Karma.  We  are  creatures  of  past  Karma  only 
so  far  as  immediate  opportunity  is  concerned;  to-morrow 
we  shall  be  swayed  by  the  Karma  we  are  making  to-day. 
No  endeavor  is  by  any  means  valueless.  Whatever 
gift  we  possess,  whatever  possibility  of  advancement  is 


LECTUKE  XI. 


205 


now  ours,  is  due  to  something  we  have  learned  in  our 
past,  when  we  laid  up  the  treasure  which  is  now  ours. 
As  it  teaches  that  everything  finally  rests  with  the 
individual,  the  doctrine  of  Karma  is,  therefore,  most 
encouraging,  hopeful,  and  inspiring,  not  depressingly 
fatalistic  as  so  many  people  misunderstand  it.  What  is 
fate?  Not  something  arbitrarily  imposed  upon  us : our 
present  condition  is  but  the  result  of  our  previous  life. 
Whether  we  remember  making  Karma  or  not,  our 
Karma  is  of  our  own  manufacture,  and  this  is  our  pres- 
ent limitation.  We  rise  beyond  this  through  better 
effort  in  this  existence  than  we  made  in  our  previous 
one.  The  soul  in  its  first  embodiment  has  no  Karma. 
When  we  have  conquered  Karma  we  are  controllers, 
not  creatures  of  circumstances  any  longer.  To  attain 
to  a Karmaless  condition  is  to  complete  the  cycle  of 
embodiments,  and  attain  Nirvana. 

Some  people  seem  darlings  of  fortune,”  while  others 
are  always  unlucky.”  It  is  a false  theory  that  states 
it  to  be  God’s  will  that  some  should  enjoy  all  the  bless- 
ings, and  others  endure  all  the  hardships  of  life.  In 
regard  to  our  failures  when  we  try  hard  to  succeed,  and 
all  the  events  we  do  not  as  yet  understand,  we  must 
conclude  we  have  not  grown  to  where  we  can  always 
attract,  or  be  benefited  by  what  we  desire.  Our  trials 
are  preparations  for  a state  where  we  shall  receive  all 
we  crave  when  we  crave  only  good.  There  is  some 
good  and  adequate  reason  why  we  have  not  succeeded 
hitherto ; but  past  failure  is  no  evidence  of  future  mis- 
fortune. All  failure  has  done  something  for  us ; it  has 
been  a means  of  development,  and  as  we  progress  we 


206 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


are  not  really  the  persons  who  failed,  so  there  is  no 
reason  why  we  should  not  succeed  in  future.  King 
Bruce  of  Scotland,  when  in  prison,  watched  a spider  fail 
in  spinning  his  web  six  times,  but  succeed  with  the 
seventh  attempt.  The  six  failures  made  the  success  of 
the  seventh  effort  possible.  This  spider  was  a working 
illustration  of  the  universal  principle  of  growth.  The 
spider  had  not  gained  the  experience  and  skill  after  the 
fifth  attempt  it  had  acquired  after  the  sixth,  when  it 
had  developed  to  a condition  which  culminated  in  suc- 
cess. In  all  life’s  endeavors  we  win  the  prize  only  after 
humiliation  and  defeat.  The  triumphs  of  the  success- 
ful embody  the  proposition  that  some  people  have  out- 
grown the  states  in  which  others  still  are.  All  souls 
have  the  same  to  conquer,  but  at  a given  moment  all 
are  not  equally  far  advanced.  We  should  take  all  the 
humiliations  we  experience  as  a needful  part  of  our 
education.  There  is  really  no  luck  or  fortune,  but  one 
road  for  all  to  travel,  — the  path  of  growth.  We  must 
all  climb  one  ladder  of  effort.  Whatever  comes  to  us 
is  a result  of  our  position  on  the  ladder,  and  our  posi- 
tion to-day  is  the  result  of  all  the  steps  we  have  taken 
hitherto.  The  understanding  of  Karma  causes  us  never 
to  dread  ultimate  failure,  never  to  look  forward  with 
forebodings  as  though  any  were  doomed  to  failure,  but 
to  press  hopefully  onward  with  such  opportunities  as 
are  born  of  past  accomplishment.  Without  special 
prophetic  vision  we  can  all  see  the  results  of  our  pre- 
vious experiences  in  our  condition  at  present.  If  we 
can  bear  fame  and  riches  without  haughtiness,  and  fill 
a high  position  well,  we  shall  not  need  to  sweep  cross- 


LECTURE  XI. 


207 


ings  in  a future  embodiment.  The  good  ruler  does  not 
return  as  a slave,  but  despots  must  acquire  humility 
through  humble  service,  learning  the  blessedness  of 
ministration  in  the  lowest  positions.  Whatever  good 
one  has  earned  one  retains  forever.  As  everything  is 
a direct  effect  of  some  cause,  every  one  should  feel,  I 
have  only  to  make  a proper  effort  to  succeed.  I am  as- 
sured of  ultimate  success.  I am  called  to  pass  through 
no  experiences  others  have  not  passed  through.”  It  is 
precisely  with  the  individual  as  with  the  race,  for  the 
race  is  only  a man  on  a larger  scale.  The  race  under- 
goes what  each  man  undergoes  till  his  final  conquest 
over  all  material  things.  We  are  all  growing  from  an 
imperfect  to  a perfect  state.  We  should  not  look 
regretfully  upon  the  past,  but  acknowledge  a divine 
unity  of  purpose  displayed  in  all  experiences. 

Instead  of  the  world  being  about  to  be  destroyed,  it 
is  becoming  ever  more  and  more  perfect.  When  finally 
the  spirit  that  has  operated  upon  it  withdraws,  it  will 
pass  into  obscuration,  but  will  again  be  brought  forth 
as  a school  for  other  minds,  who  will  in  their  turn  also 
recede  from  it.  These  vast  periods  or  cycles  of  birth 
and  death  are  the  ‘‘  days  and  nights  of  Brahm,”  which 
are  ever  succeeding  each  other : but  a perpetual  monot- 
onous round  is  not  the  destiny  of  any  individual ; for 
every  individual  there  is  no  going  back,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  perpetual  progress.  The  world  is  always  a 
school,  in  which  there  are  days  for  action,  and  nights 
for  sleep.  The  scholar  who  once  graduates  never  goes 
back  to  the  infant  school  as  a learner,  but  steadily  pro- 
gresses until  he  at  length  reaches  Nirvana,  or  heaven 


208 


STUDIES  IN  THJCOSOPHY. 


(the  highest  state  conceivable).  We  shall  all  at  length 
become  Karmaless,  and  thus  outgrow  our  ^‘fate,”  and 
rise  superior  to  everything  we  now  call  accident.  Our 
experience  on  earth  qualifies  us  all  for  a higher  life. 
Our  present  state  is  that  of  the  chrysalis ; the  next  will 
be  that  of  the  butterfly.  A poet  aptly  says,  ‘‘  here  in 
the  body  pent  ” ; for  this  state  is  one  of  limitation.  But 
it  may  be  asked.  Does  not  the  butterfly  die  as  well  as 
the  chrysalis?  Yes;  for  all  external  forms  dissolve, but 
the  soul  dwells  in  eternity,  and  is  forever  the  same. 
When  the  distinction  between  the  true  identity  and  the 
fleeting  personality  of  man  is  grasped,  there  will  be  no 
further  difficulty  in  understanding  ourselves  as  distinct 
from  our  embodiments. 

The  question  is  often  asked.  Does  the  law  of  Karma 
make  no  provision  for  the  forgiveness  of  sin?  We 
reply:  It  is  founded  on  eternal  justice,  which  is  the 
abiding  rock  of  truth.  The  internal  proof  of  any  theory 
is  that  it  harmonizes  with  perfect  justice.  Having  a 
keen  sense  of  justice  born  within  ourselves,  we  know  that 
whatever  is  just  is  true,  and  that  whatever  is  unjust 
cannot  be  true.  Justice  is  the  universal  solvent,  the 
sole  interpreter  of  all  the  mysteries  of  existence.  Is 
the  law  of  Karma  just  or  not  ? It  is  often  said,  “ to  err 
is  human  ; to  forgive,  divine,”  but  we  are  told  that 
Karma  allows  of  no  forgiveness.  Is  it  not  less  than 
divine  to  forgive  ? Can  your  highest  idea  of  God  be  of 
one  who  forgets  and  forgives?  Can  we  believe  Him 
capable  of  anger,  wrath,  or  resentment?  So  long  as 
our  idea  of  God  is  semi-barbaric,  so  long  is  the  Divine 
Being  endowed  by  our  thought  with  human  limitations, 


LECTURE  XI. 


209 


but  no  longer.  God  is  no  more  than  human  if  he  for- 
gives, and  not  even  human  in  the  highest  sense,  because 
forgiveness  implies  an  alteration  in  the  mind  of  the  one 
who  forgives.  God  can  never  change  his  mind,  for  he 
is  never  less  than  perfect ; he  can  never  change  his  at- 
titude toward  his  children,  though  they  may  frequently 
change  their  attitude  toward  him.  God  is  never  angry, 
though  he  may  appear  so  to  us  when  we  hold  anger  in 
our  hearts  toward  our  brethren.  What  a lesson  for 
humanity  there  is  in  neither  do  I condemn  thee ; go 
and  sin  no  more.”  Jesus,  when  on  the  cross,  said, 
‘‘Father,  forgive  them”  — as  an  example  to  the  unfor- 
giving, not  to  ask  God  to  do  what  he  otherwise 
might  not  have  done ; but  in  tender  pity  for  man’s  im- 
perfection, to  teach  man  the  needed  lesson  of  forgive- 
ness. It  is  often  our  duty  to  forgive  others,  because 
we  are  imperfect ; but  God,  being  perfect,  can  never  be- 
come angry,  and  therefore  He  has  nothing  to  forgive. 
God  is  never  anything  but  Infinite  Love  and  Wisdom. 
It  is  carnally  human  to  err ; it  is  humanly  divine  to  for- 
give, because  when  man  forgives  he  puts  away  his  own 
error.  It  was  once  thought  that  in  the  thunder  clap 
God  revealed  his  anger ; the  lightning  flash  was  inter- 
preted by  the  Romans  as  the  fury  of  imperial  Jove,  but 
storms  are  now  regarded  as  footprints  of  Divine  Good- 
ness. The  true  philosopher  sees  only  infinite  love  and 
wisdom  in  everything;  all  is  good  even  when  incom- 
prehensible. All  of  God’s  actions  are  based  on  infinite 
goodness ; man’s  are  not.  Theosophy  gives  us  this 
higher  conception  of  an  unchangeable  Deity.  Now  if 
Crod^  Law^  and  Nature  are  inseparable ; if  immutable, 


210 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


Natural  Law  is  the  law  of  Divine  Mind,  law  is  simply 
the  expression  of  Divine  Will.  We  thus  get  rid  of 
everything  but  God,  and  attain  to  pure  Theism.  God 
is  the  eternal  cause  present  in  the  effect;  the  effect 
must  partake  of  the  nature  of  the  cause.  What,  then,  is 
inexorable,  immutable  law,  but  the  unvarying  manifes- 
tation of  divine  benevolence  ? Karma  is  only  sequence, 
effect  following  cause ; and  if  some  consequences  of 
human  folly  are  painful,  they  are  not  the  less  gracious 
and  beneficial. 

The  operation  of  Karma  often  brings  us  bereave- 
ments ; but  there  are  no  bereavements  except  to  sense. 
So  long  as  we  place  our  affections  on  things  of  sense, 
we  need  the  discipline  of  losing  their  object : thus  the 
bitterest  experience  is  a stepping-stone  to  a higher 
affection.  True  happiness  does  not  depend  on  external 
things,  but  on  peace  of  mind.  A bereaved  mother 
might  develop  a love  so  pure  and  unselfish  for  her 
child,  a love  so  full  of  comprehension  of  what  was 
really  best  for  him,  that  she  would  come  to  know  her- 
self forever  in  the  real  child’s  presence.  Then  there 
would  be  for  her  no  more  sense  of  loss  or  bereavement; 
she  would  be  more  conscious  of  the  spirit  world  than  of 
earth,  and  absolutely  certain  her  child  was  with  her  and 
loving  her.  It  is  the  animal  soul  in  us  which  continu- 
ally wars  against  the  spirit.  This  lower  element  occa- 
sions all  our  grief.  Spiritual  science  declares  death  to 
be  only  belief ; but  who  entertains  the  belief?  Not  the 
one  who  appears  to  die,  but  they  who  pass  through  the 
bereavement  occasioned  by  belief  in  another’s  death. 
He  who  is  supposed  to  have  died,  has  not  passed 


LECTURE  XI. 


211 


through  a belief  of  death  at  all.  If  he  could  speak  to 
your  consciousness,  he  would  say,  ‘‘  I am  alive  and  with 
you,  just  as  before.”  The  belief  in  death  is  on  the 
earthly  side ; the  one  who  has  “passed  over  ” knows  he 
has  not  died.  How  can  a living  soul  believe  in  its  own 
death,  and  how  can  God  know  anything  of  death  when 
all  live  unto  him  ? How  can  he  sympathize  with  your 
physical  loss  when  your  friends  are  not  lost?  God 
must  see  everything  in  its  true  light;  how,  then,  can  he 
sympathize  with  what  has  never  occurred?  We  fancy 
people  die,  but  that  is  our  error,  and  we  continually 
ask  God  to  recognize  it.  If  God  is  infinitely  true,  how 
can  he  recognize  what  has  no  reality,  what  never  took 
place,  and  never  can  take  place  ? If  we  knew  the  why 
and  wherefore  of  all  our  experience,  if  we  could  take 
the  point  of  view  that  celestials  take,  we  should  see  at 
once  that  all  is  good  ; we  should  know  that  trial  is  good 
in  disguise,  and  exclaim  with  Job:  Shall  we  not  receive 
from  the  hand  of  God  what  seemeth  good  and  what 
seemeth  evil?  We  give  two  opposing  names  to  one 
impartial  dispensation  of  divine  goodness.  What  we 
call  good  at  one  time  we  call  evil  at  another.  At  the 
true  point  of  observation  we  see  that  all  is  good;  there 
is  no  evil ; all  things  are  for  the  best. 

When  we  arrive  at  this  point,  truth  blots  from  our 
vision  all  sight  of  tears  and  sorrow.  We  then  know 
that  the  eternal  purpose  is  fulfilled  in  everything. 
There  must  come  a period  when  we  shall  all  know  that 
whatever  we  have  undergone  was  needful  to  our  unfold- 
ment,  but  the  flower  is  not  foreseen  by  all  when  the 
seed  is  planted,  though  the  flower  is  in  the  seed.  Exter- 


212 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


nally  speaking,  the  seed  is  before  the  flower,  and  slowly 
develops  into  the  flower ; but  in  spiritual  understand- 
ing, the  flower  is  perfect  previous  to  the  seed.  The 
external  world  will  at  length  become  a faithful  portrait 
of  the  thought  of  the  Divine  Artist,  but  in  the  present 
condition  of  the  world  the  photograph  is  unfinished. 
When  all  divine  ideas  are  perfectly  mirrored  on  earth, 
the  millennium  will  have  come,  which  is  the  period  of 
the  finishing  of  the  world-picture,  when  ideas  that  have 
always  existed  in  the  mind  of  God  shall  be  perfectly 
reflected  in  the  mind  of  man  and  his  surroundings. 
When  God’s  idea  is  perfectly  reflected  in  us,  we  shall 
be  perfectly  contented  and  happy,  knowing  no  further 
care  or  annoyance. 

Geologists  say  that  the  earth  is  still  young ; upheavals 
of  nature  are  but  signs  of  imperfection,  the  means  by 
which  the  earth  advances  to  a more  perfect  condition  ; 
by  means  of  cyclones  and  earthquakes  all  that  is  fitted 
to  survive  reaches  maturity.  There  is  a reciprocal 
action  between  earth  and  man.  Physical  and  spiritual 
science  really  teach  the  same  truth.  When  all  proph- 
ecies are  fulfilled  in  human  experience,  and  spiritual 
illumination  gilds  the  page  of  Scripture,  we  learn  that 
everything  is  right  now^  we  lose  sight  of  all  evil,  and 
outgrow  everything  that  occasions  sorrow,  humiliation, 
or  pain.  When  we  feel  that  a so-called  calamity  is  the 
best  thing  that  can  possibly  occur,  it  ceases  to  be  a 
calamity  in  our  eyes.  There  is  in  every  mind  an  under- 
current of  thought  that  submission  is  ignoble ; ' we 
often  think  that  the  world  would  get  on  better  with- 
out storms,  that  if  something  could  avert  earthquakes 


LECTURE  XI. 


213 


what  a blessing  it  would  be ; but  science  teaches  all 
these  convulsions  are  necessary  to  the  evolution  of  a 
perfect  earth,  and  harmful  only  from  a superficial  point 
of  view.  When  those  who  suffer  outwardly  understand 
this,  they  are  sufferers  no  longer  in  mind,  for  they  feel 
no  anguish  of  spirit  as  when  they  deem  themselves 
deserted  by  divine  goodness.  The  pessimist  thinks  all 
mysterious  events  are  occasioned  by  blind  force,  void 
of  intelligence  and  mercy  : this  feeling  causes  much  of 
the  misery  of  the  world.  If  our  house  is  burned,  and  we 
feel  it  to  be  an  experience  we  need  to  pass  through,  we 
do  not  really  suffer  when  we  recognize  a divine  purpose 
working  through  the  fire ; for  even  if  it  leaves  us  paupers, 
we  feel  it  was  a necessary  part  of  our  education,  there- 
fore we  can  maintain  a cheerful  spirit  in  spite  of  poverty. 
If  we  can  realize  that  everything  is  really  for  the  best,  we 
are  able  to  meet  all  the  difficulties  in  our  way,  without 
letting  them  crush  us  to  the  earth ; we  cannot  in  that 
case  feel  downtrodden  and  overwhelmed,  as  though  we 
thought  ourselves  the  playthings  of  blind  force.  The 
point  to  be  reached  is  to  be  entirely  unaffected  by  ex- 
ternal things ; gaining  this  point,  we  have  completed 
our  terrestrial  journey.  However  and  whenever  this 
result  is  reached,  it  marks  the  completion  of  all  earthly 
discipline. 

We  can  in  some  instances  exhaust  all  ‘‘bad  Karma'*' 
in  our  present  life.  Those  who  can  do  so  are  often 
healed  or  converted  to  all  appearance  suddenly.  Karma 
is  of  all  our  thoughts,  words,  and  deeds  the  necessary 
effect.  We  have  been  making  Karma  through  our  whole 
life ; it  is  the  concentrated  result  of  all  our  actions  and 


214 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


thoughts  during  our  entire  lifetime.  The  question  often 
arises,  Can  we  change  all  our  conditions  in  the  remaining 
years  of  our  present  earthly  life  ? can  we  project  a force 
now,  strong  enough  to  obliterate  all  past  Karma  ? If  we 
make  a very  sincere  effort,  perhaps  we  can ; but  if  we 
live  on  in  a careless  fashion,  we  certainly  cannot  enter 
in  the  future  world  upon  a state  of  perfect  happiness. 
Remember  always  that  what  pertains  to  an  immediate 
future  state  is  not  true  of  the  eternal  state ; these  terms 
are  not  by  any  means  identical.  What  we  often  call 
‘‘forever”  is  not  eternity.  Through  the  operation  of 
Karma  (sequence),  the  steady  development  of  individual 
merit,  we  get  rid  entirely  of  the  doctrine  of  everlasting 
punishment,  which  is  founded  on  a misunderstanding  of 
the  right  application  of  a Greek  adjective  which  means 
sometimes  long-enduring  and  sometimes  eternal ; but 
sulphur,  brimstone,  and  fire  are  always  symbolical  of 
purification. 

Churchmen  have  made  a grave  mistake  in  limiting 
probation  to  one  lifetime,  and  in  regarding  as  eternal 
the  period  which  follows  one  life  and  precedes  another. 
It  is  utterly  impossible  that  a just  God  should  make  an 
eternity  depend  on  our  acts  in  one  temporal  life ; but  a 
temporary  result  ever  follows  a temporary  cause.  With 
eternity  “ hell  ” has  nothing  to  do,  only  with  the  life 
which  immediately  follows  the  present ; that  life  we  are 
preparing  for  here  and  now.  Our  immediate  future  cer- 
tainly depends  on  the  use  we  make  of  this  school ; and 
the  duties  belonging  to  this  world  have  to  be  done  here 
or  nowhere.  A theory  that  endows  this  life  with  such 
importance,  making  this  world  a vitally  important  world, 


LECTURE  XI. 


215 


inspires  us  with  energy  to  live  well  now.  We  gain  tem- 
poral reward  for  temporal  good,  and  suffer  temporal  pun- 
ishment for  temporal  error.  Eternal  reward  for  tem- 
poral merit  would  be  unjust.  When  some  beautiful, 
innocent  soul  enters  the  spiritual  world,  bright,  pure, 
and  happy,  it  may  have  nothing  to  outgrow  ; but  it  may 
have  much  to  learn,  nevertheless.  We  must  develop 
spiritually  in  this  world  if  we  would  enjoy  the  spiritual 
state  after  death.  If  a talent  has  not  been  improved 
here,  it  will  be  taken  away  there ; not  finally,  indeed,  but 
held  in  abeyance  till  another  embodiment,  when  we  shall 
again  have  it  to  use.  We  cannot  be  truly  happy  here  or 
elsewhere  until  we  have  destroyed  all  evil  Karma.,  for  it 
is  that  which  causes  all  suffering  and  distress,  and  the 
only  way  to  destroy  it  is  to  do  the  special  good  that 
counteracts  the  special  evil.  We  can  only  judge  of 
progress  by  noting  our  development  toward  perfect 
charity.  When  we  have  conquered  some  particular  vice, 
we  have  proof  of  it,  for  we  can  then  destroy  similar  vice 
in  others.  All  the  good  you  think  builds  up  your  spirit ; 
all  bad  thoughts  have  the  same  effect  on  the  spirit  that 
bad  air  or  tainted  food  has  on  the  body.  But  still 
another  question  arises,  Have  you  encouraged  enough 
good  thought  to  more  than  counterbalance  the  evil? 
Often,  alas,  we  build  with  one  hand  and  pull  down  with 
the  other.  Some  lives  oscillate  continually  between 
good  and  evil,  and  thus  remain  stationary.  Whenever 
we  speak  a kind  word  we  step  forward ; when  we  are 
unkind  we  go  backward;  but^even  in  going  back  we 
learn  something,  for  there  is  progress  even  through  ret- 
rogression, Good  lives  forever ; bad  Karina.,  at  worst. 


216 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


endures  only  for  a limited  time,  as  it  relates  only  to  time ; 
it  makes  us  suffer,  and  thus  we  advance  by  means  of  it. 
Karma  works  as  a discipline  for  our  good  in  every  case. 
To  understand  this  takes  from  us  all  disposition  to  repine 
at  any  grief,  care,  or  misery  which  we  have  brought 
upon  ourselves.  We  really  suffer  only  as  long  as  we  see 
no  reason  for  what  we  endure.  Whatever  befalls  us  is 
the  consequence  of  what  we  have  been.  We  are  reaping 
our  past  and  creating  our  future  every  moment ; as  what- 
ever we  do,  say,  or  think  makes  fresh  Karma.  To  study 
Karma  is  highly  practical ; for  as  we  can  destroy  evil 
Karma  by  creating  good,  the  creation  of  good  Karma  is 
the  work  of  to-day.  Let  us  make  the  very  best  of  our 
past  and  its  consequences,  by  converting  the  failure  and 
folly  of  the  past  into  pure  gold  for  future  days.  There 
is  no  arbitrarily  allotted  time  for  any  result.  There  is 
work  for  us  all  to  do ; and  when  we  have  done  it  we 
receive  the  result  of  that  work  independent  of  the  time 
occupied  in  its  performance. 

We  must  strive  to  eliminate  from  our  efforts  all 
anxiety  as  to  their  result,  for  reward  always  springs 
from  work  done,  not  from  anxiety  concerning  a future. 
If  we  worry,  we  are  almost  certain  to  turn  the  scales 
against  ourselves.  Right  must  prevail  because  it  is  right: 
truth  conquers  because  it  is  truth.  In  a tranquil  state 
of  mind  we  are  able  to  do  what  we  could  not  otherwise 
see  how  to  do.  All  worry  disqualifies  us  for  work.  If 
we  feel  our  success  to  be  uncertain,  we  are  apt  to  fail ; 
but  when  we  do  not  worry,  we  walk  in  light ; the  light  of 
intuition  which  is  for  our  universal  guidance.  We  are 
all  far  too  prone  to  pray  the  prayer  of  doubt  and  uncer- 


LECTUEE  XI. 


217 


tainty.  Intuition  is  an  infallible  guide  which  we  cannot 
follow  until  the  higher  principle  in  us  is  developed.  The 
highest  advancement  springs  from  self-forgetfulness.  As 
we  become  indifferent  to  our  lower  selves,  we  rise  to  care 
for  the  welfare  of  the  whole  human  race.  While  we 
are  in  our  spiritual  infancy,  we  may  be  cold,  haughty, 
and  imperious,  which  proves  we  have  not  grown  superior 
to  the  tempter  (our  own  lower  self). 

Jesus,  as  an  incarnation  of  Truth,  was  the  Light  of 
the  world,  and  lived  in  perfect  harmony  with  divine  law. 
Both  Jesus  and  Buddha  were  ripened  fruits  on  the  tree 
of  life,  in  contrast  to  others  who  were  yet  green.  If  we 
are  sour  and  acid  now,  let  us  not  despair,  but  remember 
Jesus  and  Buddha  gathered  sweetness  through  earthly 
discipline.  We  behold  in  such  matchless  lives  the  per- 
fect culmination  of  the  wearisome  stages  we  are  now 
passing  through.  Jesus,  ‘‘perfected  through  suffering,” 
ascended  to  his  glory,  only  after  having  passed  through 
the  very  experiences  whose  utility  we  are  so  prone  to 
disallow.  The  very  sufferings  we  find  hardest  to  bear 
lead  most  surely  to  perfection.  The  most  bitter  of  all  his 
experiences  was  the  infidelity  of  his  friends ; the  betrayal 
of  Jesus  by  Judas  he  surely  did  not  deserve,  but  through 
the  alchemy  of  universal  justice  that  heart-rending  trial 
proved  the  very  means  by  which  he  was  perfected.  Only 
in  being  faithful  under  trial  can  we  create  good  Karma. 
Every  time  we  meet  with  a trial  or  annoyance  we  have 
special  opportunity  to  make  good  Karma;  and  it  is  a 
heavy  loss  to  us  if  we  do  not  take  advantage  of  it.  In 
the  sum  of  our  existence  (many  links,  but  one  chain), 
we  receive  our  full  deserts.  Impressions  are  made  on 


218 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


our  spiritual  bodies  by  everything  we  have  thought,  said, 
or  done.  The  law  of  Karma  is  a law  of  perfect  compen- 
sation. 

As  there  are  many  terms  used  by  Theosophists  which 
are  unfamiliar  to  the  general  reader,  we  will  seek  to  ex- 
plain a few  of  them.  We  understand  by  Devachan^  for 
instance,  simply  a night  between  two  days,  a Sabbath 
between  two  periods  of  activity.  Devachan  is  the  Bud- 
dhist’s paradise,  a place  of  rest,  but  not  of  perfect  enjoy- 
ment. It  is  natural  that  all  should  look  forward  to  a 
state  of  perfect  happiness  eventually,  but  man’s  ideal 
state  is  capable  of  an  entirely  better  explanation  than  is 
ordinarily  furnished  by  Theosophy.  No  one  could  greatly 
enjoy  resting,  and  never  returning  to  a state  of  activity. 
The  Second  Adventists’  theory  of  sleeping  in  the  grave 
is  a corruption  of  the  Buddhist  idea  of  Devachan,  Nir- 
vana is  a state  where  activity  Avill  be  perfectly  restful, 
and  where  perfect  rest  will  be  active  enjoyment.  The 
spirit  on  passing  from  earth  sometimes  needs  a period  of 
repose  before  it  wakes  up  to  active  consciousness ; but 
there  is  no  heavenly  state  which  is  one  of  idleness. 
Perpetual  motion  is  the  law  of  existence.  Rest  does  not 
mean  idleness,  or  stagnation,  but  only  a temporary  sus-" 
pension  of  our  mental  activity,  as  during  a vacation  or 
holiday.  The  soul  at  some  time  reaches  a point  where  it 
has  no  longer  any  occupation  connected  with  earth.  In 
Devachan,,  or  “ the  spirit  world,”  we  all  remain  until  we 
are  prepared  for  another  term  of  activity,  and  during 
our  sojourn  in  that  state  we  grow  quietly  but  surely,  as 
physical  bodies  grow  most  in  sleep.  The  spirit  world  ” 
will  yield  us  the  fruitage  of  the  life  we  are  now  living ; 


LECTURE  XI. 


219 


we  shall  reap  there  as  we  have  sown  here ; then  we  may 
after  a while  enter  upon  a new  embodiment,  but  we  can- 
not then  be  at  once  wise  and  noble  or  of  very  great  use 
to  the  world,  if  we  have  hitherto  sown  evil  seed.  Con- 
sequences run  from  one  life  to  another,  but  eventually 
work  themselves  out.  God  does  not  forgive  sin,  as 
orthodoxy  teaches,  but  we  outgrow  past  errors.  When 
we  have  outgrown  all  evil  desires  we  become  ^arma-less. 
The  tree  of  life  is  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good 
only.  The  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil  is  the 
tree  of  discipline  on  which  Karma  grows,  and  thereon 
rewards  and  penalties  grow  together. 

Everything  that  comes  to  us  must  redound  to  our  final 
good;  it  cannot  possibly  be  otherwise.  If  some  of  us 
had  eternally  fewer  difficulties  and  trials  than  others,  we 
would  have  fewer  opportunities  for  progress,  and  may 
we  not  ask,  ‘‘  Does  God  give  more  opportunities  for  un- 
foldment  to  some  than  to  others  ? ” Count  it  all  joy 
when  ye  fall  into  divers  temptations ; ” it  is  always  some 
lower  element  in  our  nature  not  yet  overcome  that  tempts 
us.  The  animal  soul  is  our  tempter  and  the  only  devil  there 
is.  Only  through  resisting  this  tempter  can  we  develop 
strength  of  character.  No  one  is  spiritually  great  who 
has  not  made  an  effort  to  become  great,  either  in  this  or 
in  some  past  embodiment.  All  past  experience  is  stored 
up  in  the  mind,  but  we  are  not  always  aware  of  it.  We 
have  far  more  accumulated  experience  than  we  know 
anything  of,  for  we  do  not  express  on  earth  more  than 
we  now  need.  Wendell  Phillips  was  naturally  a man  of 
great  capacity,  but  he  never  would  have  greatly  distin- 
guished himself  had  not  the  great  need  of  the  age  made 


220  STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 

its  demand  upon  him.  He  would  in  any  case  have  been 
a graceful  speaker,  but  not  the  great  and  thrilling  orator 
he  was  in  the  days  when  the  antislavery  conflict  was  at 
its  height,  had  not  that  great  cause  appealed  to  the 
ability  within  him.  We  are  not  all  equally  imbued  with 
power,  because  only  a few  have  undergone  such  disci- 
pline as  to  have  stored  within  them  great  latent  capacity. 

In  our  next  embodiment  we  shall  not  begin  where  we 
left  off  in  this,  but  where  we  ended  dn  the  spiritual  state 
following  this  embodiment.  If  we  live  impurely  now,  it 
will  leave  us  in  a state  of  mental  exhaustion,  so  we  will 
have  but  small  chance  to  progress ; we  shall  have  to 
struggle  with  tremendous  odds,  but  may,  nevertheless, 
win  a great  victory.  No  condition  is  hopeless,  and  no 
child  was  ever  born  for  punishment.  This  world  is  not 
a hell,  but  simply  a school  where  all  have  opportunity  to 
learn;  no  fate  hangs  over  any  head  ordaining  failure, 
though  some  have  to  struggle  very  hard  to  make  life  a 
success.  The  doctrine  of  Karma  teaches  hope  and  in- 
spires to  effort;  it  does  not  encourage  reconciliation  to 
the  inevitable,  because  nothing  in  the  fatalistic  sense  is 
inevitable  ; we  all  have  opportunity  to  make  good  Karma 
now,  and  thereby  secure  happiness  in  our  next  embodi- 
ment. If  one  succeeds  in  developing  character  here,  his 
spirit  goes  into  the  spirit  world  (^DevaeJian)  bright  and 
beautiful,  prepared  for  bliss  in  the  next  embodiment.  A 
martyr’s  crown  shines  brightest  of  all  in  the  life  beyond. 
For  such  lives  there  is  compensation  whose  glory  no 
words  can  portray. 

Our  heaven  is  always  what  we  make  it.  Whatever  is 
our  idea  of  heaven  we  will  realize.  Every  one  receives 


LECTURE  XI. 


221 


what  is  the  very  best  for  him.  We  have  all  conceived 
of  something  we  think  of  as  perfect  happiness,  but  some 
of  us  are  capable  of  enjoying  far  more  than  others : it 
would  take  far  more  to  satisfy  one  than  another ; but  if 
we  are  faithful  in  this  life,  we  shall  attain  in  the  next 
all  the  happiness  we  can  appreciate.  Some  we  know  can 
apprehend  beauty  in  music  and  art  that  ordinary  people 
cannot  detect.  Some  can  drink  copious  inspiration  from 
a landscape ; others  cannot  appreciate  it  at  all.  The  dif- 
ference in  people  is  so  great  that,  if  we  could  measure 
the  actual  amount  of  their  enjoyment,  one  person  when 
thoroughly  happy  would  appear  in  capacity  like  a small- 
sized goblet ; another,  like  a gallon  vessel.  The  Indian 
of  the  North  American  prairies  has  no  higher  idea  of 
the  future  state  than  of  happy  hunting-grounds : his  sole 
ambition  is  to  reach  that  desired  goal,  which  would  not, 
with  our  higher  desires,  in  any  way  satisfy  us ; but  the 
Indian  would  exclaim,  ‘‘Great  Spirit,  so  good  to  give 
me  all  I want  ” ; he  could  not  enjoy  anything  higher. 
If  one  has  lived  an  artistic  life,  he  might  imagine  a 
beautiful  city,  with  scenery  of  gorgeous  description, 
where  treasures  of  beauty  are  freely  outpoured.  All 
can  receive  happiness  in  the  ideal  world  they  have  pic- 
tured to  themselves.  The  man  in  his  study  is  no  happier 
with  his  books  than  is  the  child  in  the  nursery  with  his 
toys;  the  child  must  grow  mentally  to  the  stature  of  a 
man  before  he  can  enjoy  a man’s  books.  If  we  strive 
for  the  highest  growth  we  can  conceive  of,  we  awake 
after  “death”  to  all  the  glories  we  can  enjoy.  There 
can  be  no  absolutely  perfect  reward  except  for  an  abso- 
lutely perfect  life.  The  more  advanced  the  soul,  the 


222 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


higher  its  possibilities  of  enjoyment.  This  view  of  the 
future  life  will  at  once  strike  the  reflective  reader  as  in 
perfect  accord  with  ‘‘Many  mansions  in  the  Father’s 
house.” 

How  can  we  meet  our  friends  in  heaven  if  they  are 
re-embodied?  is  a question  which  perplexes  many;  let 
us  try  to  answer  it : There  is  often  a very  long  period 
betAveen  embodiments,  — the  intervals  are  referred  to  in 
the  New  Testament  as  ages.  “ The  world  coming  to  an 
end,”  “ a new  heaven  and  a new  earth,”  and  similar  ex- 
pressions, often  refer  to  lapses  between  embodiments. 
We  need  not  fear  that  if  our  friends  are  re-embodied 
we  shall  not  meet  them  in  the  spirit  world.  We  do  not 
realize  the  dual  life  we  are  now  living,  and  this  is  the 
reason  why  we  cannot  realize  spiritual  communion  more 
fully  than  we  usually  do.  This  world  is  not  man’s 
native  element ; we  are  at  times  obliged  to  retire  from 
it ; this  earth  is  a workshop,  from  which  we  need  tem- 
porary retreats;  we  have  to  withdraw  frequently  into 
our  natural  element  to  And  rest  beyond  the  realm  of 
dreams.  From  unbroken  slumbers  we  awake  recreated, 
strong,  and  full  of  peace.  In  the  realm  of  spirit  our 
spirit  has  enjoyed  a higher  fellowship  than  we  can  out- 
Avardly  realize,  but  we  experience  the  result  in  renewal 
of  energy  for  all  states  of  life.  When  embodied  on 
earth,  we  are  like  amphibious  animals,  living  between 
two  elements.  We,  in  perfect  repose,  go  out  of  the 
material  element  into  the  ocean  of  spirit,  and  we  could 
not  do  our  work  on  the  dry  land  if  we  did  not  occa- 
sionally rest  in  the  water.  We  must  strive  to  realize 
each  other  now^  not  after  the  flesh,  but  after  the  spirit. 


LECTURE  XI. 


223 


When  we  reach  a higher  state  of  being,  we  shall  neither 
know  nor  care  what  external  form  our  friends  may  wear, 
since  form  does  not  contain  spirit.  The  earthly  embodi- 
ment is  only  a garment,  an  external  projection  of  spirit : 
the  substance  must  not  be  confounded  with  the  shadow 
it  casts.  We  (our  real  selves)  always  were,  and  we 
always  shall  be,  in  the  spirit  realm;  we  must  learn  to 
know  each  other  in  spirit  now,  if  we  would  know  and 
understand  what  we  really  are.  The  soul  retains  its 
perfect  individuality  in  the  spirit  world,  independent  of 
external  expression.  When  people  express  a desire  to 
meet  their  friends  in  the  life  beyond,  they  often  fail  to 
realize  in  what  spiritual  union  really  consists.  We 
should  very  soon  grow  tired  of  rigid  outer  personali- 
ties. Nothing  external  could  forever  satisfy  us.  We 
live  forever  in  the  life  immortal,  and  true  unions  per- 
tain to  the  unchanging  state  of  the  soul  only. 


As  a supplement  to  this  discourse,  we  append  some 
thoughts  on  the  true  relations  of 

THEOSOPHY  AND  METAPHYSICAL  HEALING. 

Considerable  misapprehension  has  prevailed  in  some 
quarters  on  this  subject;  but  metaphysical  healing  is 
really  Theosophy  applied  to  health,  metaphysical  heal- 
ing being  the  utilization  of  the  spiritual  power  in  man 
for  beneficent  ends.  It  is  the  desire  of  adepts  to  bring 
this  truth  before  the  world  for  the  benefit  of  all  man- 
kind. The  metaphysical  movement  has  come  before  the 


224 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


world  through  the  direct  action  of  master-minds,  belong- 
ing to  the  most  important  orders  in  the  world.  The 
principle  of  metaphysics  is  the  principle  of  Eastern 
wisdom,  and  it  is  only  just  to  Theosophy  and  the  wis- 
dom of  the  East  to  make  this  statement.  Mrs.  Eddy 
says  she  obtained  it  from  a study  of  the  Bible.  How 
did  Dr.  Quimby  and  others  receive  it  ? It  matters  not. 
These  flashes  of  light  which  have  come  to  different 
minds  have  all  proceeded  from  orders  that  have  for 
ages  held  this  truth,  which  they  give  to  the  masses  as 
they  are  able  to  receive  it.  Those  who  receive  it  intui- 
tively do,  in  a certain  sense,  as  they  claim,  receive  it 
from  God.  Metaphysics  and  Theosophy  are  perfectly 
at  one : mediumship  has  often  been  an  erratic  manifes- 
tation of  spiritual  power,  but  in  its  highest  phases  it  is 
strictly  theosophical,  though  in  its  lowest  it  is  nothing 
more  than  ‘‘gray  magic.”  No  one  can  be  a successful 
healer  unless  he  lives  a pure  life,  in  conformity  with  the 
teachings  of  the  science  he  professes  to  hold  dear.  By 
perfect  devotion  to  spiritual  truth  and  the  good  of  hu- 
manity, all  can  exercise  the  power,  the  use  of  which 
Jesus  taught  to  his  disciples. 

Every  true  healer  is  a true  Theosophist,  for  he  en- 
deavors to  turn  the  attention  of  his  patients  from  matter 
to  spirit;  he  insists  upon  the  culture  of  the  spiritual 
nature,  and  the  establishment  of  noble  relations  witli 
the  psychic  world,  which  will  enable  man  to  inherit  all 
things  worth  inheriting.  Our  external  forms  receive  an 
imprint  from  every  thought  which  enters  our  minds. 
We  believe  in  the  perfect  physical  regeneration  of  the 
body  through  psychical  means,  and  contend  that  this 


LECTUEE  XI. 


225 


can  only  be  accomplished  through  the  action  of  the 
highest  thought : when  the  higher  nature  is  appealed  to, 
it  drives  out  what  the  lower  nature  has  accreted.  The 
elixir  of  life  is  not  a drug,  or  the  blood  of  an  animal, 
but  the  life  that  springs  from  the  interior  principle,  — 
the  Logos,  the  true  Ego,  the  Life  of  God  within  us. 
In  our  highest  condition  we  undertake  to  heal  no  one ; 
but  as  the  sun  radiates  light  and  heat  through  the  solar 
system,  so  do  we  radiate  health  when  we  are  in  health. 
Every  soul  in  eternity  can  perceive  only  good,  be  recep- 
tive to,  and  express  only  good. 

The  man  who  has  really  found  his  soul  sheds  blessing 
everywhere ; he  can  go  nowhere  without  healing  the  sick : 
wherever  he  goes  he  carries  a beneficent  influence  which 
he  unconsciously  dispenses  as  freely  as  the  song  of  a 
bird  or  the  perfume  of  a flower.  We  shall  never  develop 
into  such  a condition,  however,  unless  we  love  to  do 
good  to  mankind  universally.  Let  us  cultivate  our 
higher  principle /or  the  sake  of  the  good  we  can  do.  All 
power  is  ours  when  we  are  in  Divine  Understanding. 
Life  is  a battle,  and  only  they  who  fight  the  battle  win 
the  prize.  Spiritual  healing  is  more  than  mental  heal- 
ing. Mind-cure  is  an  inadequate  expression. 

Spiritual  illumination  is  necessary  for  perfect  healing. 
A proper  metaphysical  treatment  closes  the  door  upon 
error  and  opens  a door  into  heaven ; it  is  often  like  open- 
ing the  window  in  a room  full  of  foul  air  so  as  to  let  in  a 
fresh,  cool,  sweet  breeze,  which  soon  purifies  and  har- 
monizes the  apartment.  This  is  what  thought  does, 
when  we  affirm : ‘‘  I am  spirit,  one  with  God ; I am  per- 
fectly well  in  my  interior,  immortal  being.”  When  we 


226 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


thus  relate  ourselves  with  the  Infinite,  we  open  a window 
nothing  can  ever  close.  Sometimes  in  the  minds  of  the 
afflicted  there  are  windows  opening  to  most  disagreeable 
places ; a spiritual  treatment  shuts  that  window  and  opens 
another  to  a bed  of  roses,  as  it  were,  letting  in  thoughts 
of  peace,  and  harmonizing  all  with  celestial  planes  of 
intelligence.  Spiritual  truth  opens  the  avenues  of  the 
mind  to  the  knowledge  of  being ; it  conduces  to  right 
living,  to  traveling  in  the  right  way,  to  the  overcoming 
of  all  discordant  thought;  it  enables  us  to  enter  upon 
our  rightful  heritage  of  eternal  life  and  blessedness. 
Every  such  treatment  should  be  educative ; the  healer 
should  develop  a spiritual  atmosphere  by  benevolent 
thought.  Trust  in  God;  rest  in  Spirit;  work  without 
anxiety  as  to  results.  In  giving  ourselves  up  to  spiritual 
influx^  we  are  yielding  to  the  Holy  Spirit,  which  is  far 
better  than  relying  on  our  own  mentality.  When  one 
treats  with  personal  will  he  soon  becomes  exhausted. 
Treatment  coupled  with  doubt  is  worse  than  none  at  all ; 
when  you  are  agitated  and  do  not  leave  all  to  God,  you 
are  giving  wrong  mental  medicine,  — your  thought,  not 
Crod's  thought.  You  cannot  fail  when  you  are  in  truth, 
for  it  is  God’s  will  that  every  one  should  be  well  and 
happy. 

Theosophy  recognizes  seven  senses  : Spiritual  Science 
seeks  to  develop  the  sixth  and  seventh  senses,  through 
which  we  come  into  conscious  relation  with  the  astral 
and  spiritual  worlds.  When  we  study  Spiritual  Science, 
we  study  everything  there  is ; for  spiritual  knowledge  is 
the  only  solvent  of  life’s  mystery.  Some  Theosophists 
Ave  know  take  a mistaken  vieAv  of  spiritual  healing. 


LECTURE  XI. 


227 


owing  to  a false  view  of  astrology,  or  planetary  influ- 
ences. Now  astrology  and  alchemy  are  true  sciences ; 
they  are  the  spiritual  side  of  astronomy  and  chemistry. 
Theosophy  teaches  that  we  were  born  when  certain  influ- 
ences were  in  the  ascendant,  because  of  the  Karma  we 
brought  with  us  from  past  experiences : this  caused  us  to 
be  conceived  and  born  just  when  we  were.  Our  brood- 
ing stars  ” are  due  to  our  Karma ; but  Karma  is  to  be 
vanquished,  it  is  not  to  govern  us.  The  perfectly  un- 
folded soul  is  represented  astrologically  in  the  twelfth 
chapter  of  Revelations,  as  a woman  clothed  with  the  sun, 
in  contrast  to  Adam  and  Eve,  who  were  represented  in 
the  garden  of  Eden  as  naked,  signifying  ignorant  though 
innocent;  that  is,  in  a state  of  moral  infancy.  Their 
adoption  of  clothing  signified  growth  in  knowledge 
through  experience.  Eve,  though  innocent  and  perfect 
in  virgin  beauty,  wore  no  crown ; chaste  as  marble,  pure 
as  ice,  with  beauty  unsullied,  she  was  still  no  queen,  no 
conqueror.  She  is  the  representative  of  infantile  inno- 
cence, but  one  to  whom  no  one  need  apply  for  advice 
or  instruction,  as  she  has  no  knowledge  of  the  world,  or 
its  trials.  While  fair  and  pure,  she  was  only  a little 
child  who  could  not  serve  as  teacher,  counselor,  or  guide. 
Now  gaze  upon  the  other  picture,  — a woman  standing 
in  regal  glory,  clothed  with  the  sun,  the  moon  beneath 
her  feet,  a crown  of  twelve  stars  upon  her  head;  a 
woman  with  all  the  chastity  that  could  be  imagined  as 
pertaining  to  the  pure  Edenic  virgin,  but  chastity  com- 
bined with  all  — commanding  knowledge,  intelligence 
united  to  purity,  love  married  to  wisdom.  Between 
these  two,  a great  gulf  is  fixed;  but  it  is  the  Edenic 


228 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


/ 


woman  who  has  developed  into  the  radiant  queen  of  the 
Apocalypse.  We  may  take  Eve  to  represent  a suscepti- 
ble person  who  always  takes  on  conditions  ” ; when 
tempted  by  the  serpent  (error),  she  is  utterly  unpro- 
tected ; but  the  light  that  clothes  the  apocalyptic  woman 
is  the  armor  of  the  Spirit  which  envelopes  her  from  head 
to  foot  and  paralyzes  the  serpent.  Jesus  placed  before 
us,  as  our  goal,  a glorious  condition  that  is  still  beyond 
us,  the  union  of  the  dove’s  harmlessness  with  the  ser- 
pent’s wisdom. 

Now  what  is  the  esoteric  significance  of  the  apocalyptic 
figure  ? The  sun  corresponds  to  our  spiritual  nature, 
the  moon  to  our  physical,  or  animal  nature,  and  the 
twelve  stars  to  our  different  intellectual  powers.  Many 
astrologers  tell  us,  the  wise  man  rules  his  stars.”  The 
true  Theosophist,  in  whom  divine  wisdom  is  regnant, 
rules  his  own  intellectual  powers,  compelling  them  to 
act  as  servants  to  the  divine  soul  (atma)  as  the  visible 
sun  rules  the  planets  which  revolve  around  it.  Our  atma 
is  the  sun  in  us  : the  true  ego  is  the  spiritual  sun.  The 
moon  represents  the  animal  nature,  a mere  satellite  which 
must  be  subjected  to  the  intellect,  while  both  mind  and 
sense  must  obey  the  Spirit.  This  is  the  true  planetary 
correspondence  of  the  powers  withiil  ourselves.  As 
planets  revolve  in  space,  they  are  continually  discharg- 
ing electricity  into  the  atmosphere  ; the  recent  perihelion 
of  several  has  had  a great  deal  to  do  with  the  present 
tumult  and  unrest  in  human  society  all  over  the  world ; 
but  all  these  influences  being  mortal,  they  afflict  only 
those  who  are  on  the  mortal  plane  of  thought  and  affec- 
tion. When  we  cultivate  our  soul  power,  when  we  are 


LECTURE  XIo 


229 


clad  in  armor  from  head  to  foot,  no  arrows  or  bullets 
can  pierce  our  armor.  When  we  live  in  the  Spirit,  by 
constant  at-one-ment  with  the  interior  life,  we  clothe 
ourselves  with  the  sun,  subdue  the  moon  (all  carnal  pas- 
sions) beneath  our  feet,  and  earn  a diadem  of  twelve 
stars,  signifying  the  perfect  development  of  our  intellect 
(the  twelve  stars  refer  to  all  zodiacal  influences).  A 
thoroughly  rounded  development  is  a regal  crown.  As 
we  live  in  the  light  of  spiritual  truth  we  become  ever 
more  and  more  invulnerable,  no  matter  what  hydra- 
headed monster  makes  war  upon  us ; our  heels,  being 
cased  in  armor,  blunt  the  serpent’s  fangs,  and  the  spirit- 
ual armor  with  which  we  are  clothed,  not  only  protects 
us^  but  radiates  an  atmosphere  which  purifles  the  air  for 
every  one  else  to  breathe ; it  generates  a counter-influence 
of  good  that  destroys  evil,  as  light  dispels  darkness. 
When  this  is  understood,  we  shall  learn  how  useless  it  is 
to  expect  to  succeed  in  spiritual  work  merely  through 
intellectual  accomplishments.  Verily,  the  spoken  or 
written  word  of  truth  carries  conviction  by  the  sheer 
force  of  sound  argument  to  many  minds,  but  much  more 
than  argument  is  needed  in  breaking  down  the  strong- 
hold of  error  and  letting  in  the  light  of  truth. 

N.B.  — In  compiling  the  foregoing  essay,  the  writer 
has  been  to  some  extent  indebted  to  “ Short  Lessons 
in  Theosophy,”  compiled  by  S.  C.  Clark,  a valuable 
little  handbook  in  question  and  answer  form^  69  pages, 
leatherette,  price  25  cents,  for  sale  by  Colby  & Rich. 


LECTURE  XIL 


THE  MYSTERY  OF  THE  AGES.  — THE  SECRET  DOCTRINE 
CONTAINED  IN  ALL  RELIGIONS. 

Is  the  world  ready  to  receive  esoteric  truth  ? is  a con- 
stantly recurring  question.  All  must  admit  that  every 
one  is  not  prepared  for  theosophical  teaching  in  its  most 
intricate  form,  though  every  one  is  ready  for  something. 
Jesus  condensed  in  his  parables  all  the  wisdom  of  the 
ancients ; they  were  both  sublime  and  simple.  The  mental 
veil  is  soon  rent  in  those  who  give  themselves  wholly  to 
truth,  but  it  conceals  the  inner  meaning  of  truth  from  the 
world  at  large.  The  spiritual  mysteries  of  all  religions 
are  now  being  revealed,  although  the  materiality  of  the 
present  day  tends  to  dwarf  the  minds  of  all  who  do  not 
enter  fully  into  the  consciousness  of  spiritual  being. 
When  man  really  knows  himself,  he  knows  God.  He 
who  cannot  find  divinity  in  himself  has  only  developed 
]iis  fourth  principle  (animal  soul),  life  being  to  him  only 
a round  of  eating,  drinking,  and  similar  indulgences. 
We  see  many  people  who  are  animated  bodies,  but  little 
more ; they  have  occasionally  better  moments,  but  their 
souls  have  not  yet  shone  through  their  organisms  to  any 
extent.  Then  there  are  others  who  have  no  conscious- 
ness of  spiritual  existence,  yet  are  often  actuated  by  a 
pure  benevolence  that  puts  to  shame  professional  sane- 


LECTURE  XII. 


231 


tity.  Many  feel  a spiritual  impulse  they  are  unable  to 
express  through  their  lower  nature.  Many  people  are 
not  yet  prepared  for  profound  occult  study  or  theosophi- 
cal  investigation,  which  really  comprises  religion,  phi- 
losophy, and  science. 

Theosophy  in  its  profounder  aspect  is  not  intended  for 
children,  but  for  men  and  women  in  understanding,  who 
are  the  only  people  qualified  to  deal  with  the  great 
problems  which  it  presents  to  the  world,  — problems 
which  call  for  the  most  earnest  and  persistent  study. 
We  should  not  give  that  which  is  holy  to  dogs;  we 
should  never  force  advanced  ideas  upon  unprepared 
minds,  but  be  ever  ready  to  impart  instruction  to  those 
who  seek  it.  Whatever  we  learn  truly  we  never  un- 
learn ; all  teaching  is  progressive.  We  must  impart  eso- 
teric truth  to  the  public  by  degrees,  but  always  teach  chil- 
dren in  accordance  with  foundation  principles.  Teaching 
must  be  pure  in  order  to  be  good.  Give  milk  and  water 
where  people  are  not  ready  for  stronger  food,  but  never 
prevaricate  when  you  withhold,  nor  adulterate  Avhen  you 
omit.  The  needs  of  human  nature  are  very  varied ; each 
mind  requires  a phase  of  truth  adapted  to  its  particular 
understanding.  A Theosophist  should  in  the  righteous 
sense  be  ‘‘  all  things  to  all  men  ” to  save  all.  Conduct 
the  student,  as  in  music,  through  scales  and  exercises  to 
the  works  of  the  great  masters.  If  we  apply  divine  wis- 
dom, as  it  was  applied  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  when  the 
disciples  spake  in  divers  tongues,  we  shall  divide  the 
Word  of  Truth  so  as  to  minister  to  the  edification  of  all 
who  hear  it.  If  we  exercise  in  this  age  the  genuine 
gift  of  tongues,  we  shall  preach  only  one  gospel  as  we 


232 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


teach  only  one  arithmetic  and  one  chemistry,  but  we 
impart  different  degrees  of  instruction  in  these  sciences 
as  pupils  are  prepared  to  receive  them:  the  one  law 
and  the  one  gospel  can  be  adapted  to  all.  Manj^ 
complain  of  the  unintelligibility  of  a great  amount  of 
theosophical  literature,  — the  language  is  so  mystical, 
the  thought  so  involved,  the  ideas  and  forms  of  ex- 
pression are  both  so  unusual  that  the  average  reader 
cannot  understand  it,  they  say ; but  if  all  things  diffi- 
cult at  first  were  laid  aside,  pupils  might  never  learn 
anything  new. 

The  study  of  Theosophy  is  like  the  study  of  a new 
science  of  which  the  multitude  know  nothing;  an  art 
with  which  the  crowd  is  unfamiliar.  We  confront  new 
expressions  of  old  thoughts  when  learning  a new  lan- 
guage. Theosophical  ideas,  even  though  exceedingly 
ancient,  are  new  to  the  world  of  to-day.  The  nomen- 
clature often  seems  new  and  startling,  but  is  soon  inter- 
preted. Kama  loca  is  only  a Sanskrit  equivalent  for 
purgatory ; Devachan  signifies  the  spirit  world,  or  para- 
dise ; Nirvana  means  heaven ; Buddha  is  no  more  mysti- 
cal a name  than  Christ.  There  is  nothing  true  or  useful 
in  Buddhism  that  there  is  not  also  in  Christianity.  The 
value  of  Theosophy  is  that  it  demonstrates  the  absolute 
unity  of  all  divine  philosophy.  The  general  tendency 
of  modern  secular  thought  is  toward  the  rise  of  the  in- 
dividual, that  of  Theosophy  toward  the  welfare  of  the 
race,  through  forgetfulness  of  self ; it  admonishes  us  to 
kill  out  all  sense  of  separateness.,  which  means  divided  or 
opposing  interests.  We  must  feel  that  we  are  all  living 
one  true  life,  and  that  is  the  life  of  the  race,  the  only  life 


LECTURE  XII. 


233 


with  which  we  should  be  concerned.  Self-forgetfulness 
is  not  antithetical  to  self-preservation ; but  human  laws 
must  give  place  to  Divine  Law ; all  good  earthly  laws 
are  included  in  the  one  universal  Law  of  Spirit,  and  that 
is  stated  in  the  formula  usually  styled  the  Golden  Rule 
and  in  the  method  of  the  Pater  Noster. 

There  is  a rapidly  growing  desire  on  the  part  of  all 
mankind  for  higher  spiritual  revelation.  Surely  none 
can  be  so  blind  as  not  to  see  the  great  and  ever-increasing 
interest  which  now  prevails  in  all  that  relates  to  occultism^ 
which  means  secret  philosophy  or  science.  Theosophy 
means  divine  wisdom,  but  do  we  not  have  to  search  for 
divine  wisdom  as  for  hidden  treasure  ? Without  spiritual 
wisdom  we  cannot  possibly  understand  life  present,  past, 
or  future.  Theosophy  alone  unlocks  the  mysteries  of 
Being.  It  does  not  deal  with  the  individual  as  separate 
from  mankind,  but  only  with  man  collectively,  since  the 
Eternal  Being  is  Father  and  Mother  of  us  all.  All 
demonstrations  of  truth  to  an  individual  must  depend 
on  the  mental  caliber  of  that  individual  and  the  effort  he 
makes  to  solve  life’s  problem.  Sciences  are  but  various 
manifestations  of  one  true  science;  there  are  various 
departments  of  knowledge,  but  knowledge  itself  is  a 
unit.  All  religious  systems  are  endeavors  on  the  part  of 
humanity  to  express  its  highest  ideas,  though  often  but 
feebly  in  sign  and  symbol.  Theosophy  exerts  a uniting, 
never  a separating,  influence  on  those  who  study  it ; its 
adherents  become  friends  when  previously  strangers. 
Theosophy  does  not  seek  to  overturn  any  creed,  but,  on 
the  contrary,  without  deifying  any  form  of  religion, 
symbol,  or  book,  it  interprets  all  symbols,  creeds,  and 


234 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


books  esoterically  instead  of  exoterically,  as  it  recognizes 
that  while  the  letter  killeth,  the  spirit  giveth  life.  Every 
true  Theosophist  is  a xiniversal  religionist. 

Oui*  faculties,  whatever  they  may  be,  are  capable  of 
stimulation  in  every  direction.  We  must  know  that  we 
have  a special  endowment  to  begin  with,  but  that  we 
are  born  gifted  does  not  imply  that  we  should  not  dili- 
gently cultivate  our  gift.  It  is  possible  to  put  our 
talents  out  at  interest  so  as  to  make  one  talent  two,  then 
two  will  increase  to  four,  and  ten  will  become  twenty  as 
easily  as  one  became  two.  Unto  those  who  have,  more 
shall  be  given  continually.  Spiritual  growth  is  valuable 
here  and  now  as  well  as  in  the  state  beyond  the  grave. 
It  is  not  necessary  that  we  all  should  isolate  ourselves 
from  our  kindred  to  develop  our  spiritual  gifts,  but  we 
must  realize  ourselves  as  living  now  a spiritual  life  in 
the  spiritual  universe ; we  must  speak  and  think  now  as 
we  would  wish  to  in  the  supernal  state.  Theosophy 
claims  that  we  can  cultivate  and  exercise  now  and  here 
all  the  powers  of  the  spirit.  Spiritual  development  is 
within  the  reach  of  all,  as  spiritual  endowments  are 
already  in  our  possession.  We  can  all  enjoy  spiritual 
illumination  and  vigor  of  intellect  if  we  live  harmoni- 
ously with  divine  law.  Practice  alone  makes  perfect; 
we  can  all  develop  spiritual  muscle  and  cultivate  the 
latent  spiritual  power  within  us.  Man  can  use  his  sixth 
sense,  and  so  accustom  himself  to  employ  it  as  to  find  it 
a reliable  guide  at  all  times.  We  are  not  so  diverse  as 
we  suppose , we  often  think  mistakenly  that  if  we  were 
constituted  like  some  other  people  we  could  shine  brighter 
than  they  shine;  but  Theosophy  teaches  that  genius  is 


LECTtJRE  XII. 


235 


after  all  applied  energy,  a determination  to  take  posses- 
sion of  our  own.  We  all  possess  the  power  within  us 
that  characterized  the  most  renowned  people  who  ever 
walked  the  globe.  We  need  not  ask,  ‘^Have  I this  or 
that  gift?”  for  when  a gift  is  appealed  to,  it  responds, 
and  can  be  used  as  a means  of  further  development  or 
higher  culture.  All  persons  really  possess  the  gifts  they 
wish  for ; what  you  do  not  possess  you  could  not  care  for. 
Love  of  anything  is  due  to  a power  within  struggling 
for  expression,  which  says : “ I have  chosen  you  ” (not, 
you  have  chosen  me  ”) ; “ I am  in  you  already  and 
want  to  be  used.”  Our  spiritual  powers  are  continually 
asking  to  be  exercised.  This  is  the  real  condition  in 
the  spirit  of  every  man.  As  we  increase  in  knowledge 
of  the  law  of  Karma^  or  sequence,  we  shall  be  able  to 
explain  quite  satisfactorily  in  every  instance  why  human 
demands  and  affections  are  outwardly  as  diverse  as  they 
are.*  These  explanations  we  must  give  a little  later  in 
our  work,  after  we  have  led  up  to  them  by  taking  a 
hurried  glance  at  Theosophy  in  general. 

In  the  chapters  devoted  to  Hindu  and  Persian  The- 
osophy (vide  Lectures  IX.  and  X.)  we  have  sought  to 
familiarize  the  reader  with  the  general  scheme  of 
Oriental  thought  and  doctrine ; we  are  now  about 
to  enter  upon  the  doctrinal  and  practical,  rather  than 
to  continue  the  historical  portion  of  our  work.  As  book 
reviews  are,  we  know,  expected,  and  greatly  appreciated 
by  many  readers  who  have  little  time  for  reading  but 
are  desirous  of  acquainting  themselves  with  as  many 
good  books  as  possible  in  a short  time,  we  shall  now 
introduce  — 


236 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


The  Mystery  of  the  Ages  contained  in  the  Secret  Doc- 
trine of  All  Religions.”  Under  this  heading  Lady  Caith- 
ness, Duchesse  de  Pomar,  one  of  the  brightest  minds  in 
Europe  engaged  in  theosophical  propaganda,  has  issued 
from  the  press  of  C.  L.  H.  Wallace,  Oxford  Mansion, 
London,  W.  (price  10§.  6c?.),i  one  of  the  finest  and  most 
comprehensive  works  we  have  been  privileged  to  peruse. 
It  is  a complete  digest  of  universal  Theosophy,  treating 
all  schools  of  thought  and  branches  of  this  vast  subject 
Avith  remarkable  fairness  and  ability,  in  a manner  to  attract 
all  and  repel  no  honest  enquirer.  In  a copious  preface, 
excellently  worded,  the  talented  authoress  and  compiler, 
who  has  drawn  from  almost  every  conceivable  source  im- 
portant material  for  her  work,  calls  attention,  with  great 
power  and  ability,  to  the  identity  of  all  religions  at  their 
root.  There  may  be  many  branches  and  countless  leaves, 
but  only  one  root,  as  all  intelligences  are  nourished  from 
one  eternal  fountain  of  life,  all  warmed  by  the  same  great 
central  fire  of  being.  All  prayers  are  cries  of  God’s  chil- 
dren seeking  their  Parent,  — cries  which  are  never  disre- 
garded, even  though  it  often  seems  amid  the  mass  of 
worldliness  and  error  in  which  so  many  are  seemingly  en- 
gulfed that  the  originally  pure  aspirational  element,  which 
is  the  vital  germ  of  religion,  had  been  crushed  to  death. 
Overlaid  with  error  it  may  be,  as  frescoes  in  ancient 
churches  have  been  covered  for  centuries  with  white- 
Avash,  Avhich,  though  it  has  hidden,  has  preserved  them ; 
for  at  a time  of  restoration  they  reappear,  fresh  as  on  the 
day  when  some  great  artist,  long  since  departed,  placed 
them  there. 

1 For  sale  by  Colby  & Rich,  Boston. 


LECTURE  XII. 


237 


Truth  alone  is  immortal ; its  absolute  imperishability 
was  never  more  clearly  demonstrated  than  now,  when 
from  every  quarter  new  forms  of  truth  are  springing  up, 
but  all  animated  with  the  old  vitalizing  breath  of  spirit- 
ual revelation.  None  of  our  readers  who  have  carefully 
followed  us  in  our  hasty  scamper  over  ancient  fields  of 
thought  and  modern  inspiration,  will  be  unready  to  wel- 
come all  that  Lady  Caithness  has  to  say  to  them.  Her 
work,  though  very  popular,  and  enjoying  a very  wide 
circulation,  is  scarcely  for  beginners  in  the  study,  unless 
they  are  persons  whose  previous  training  has  led  them 
up  to  desire  arcane  knowledge,  such  as  she  serves  to 
them  in  a manner  which  at  once  bespeaks  the  profundity 
of  the  savant  and  the  grace  of  the  accomplished  society 
leader.  Among  the  many  who  are  giving  time  and 
energy  to  a dissemination  of  spiritual  truth,  no  one  per- 
haps is  working  more  efficiently  than  this  truly  noble 
woman,  who,  while  wearing  her  ducal  coronet  with  all 
the  imperial  grace  of  a noble  dame  of  the  ancien  rSgime^ 
mingling  freely  in  high  society  where  she  is  an  acknowl- 
edged leader,  uses  her  influence  to  carry  into  the  gilded 
halls  of  wealth  and  splendor  a truth  which  is  surely  des- 
tined to  bring  all  stations  of  life  into  sweet  and  gracious 
union,  whereas  now,  unhappily,  ill-feeling  often  prevails 
among  those  which  conventionalism  divides  into  upper 
and  lower  classes.  Jesus  taught  all  with  whom  he  came 
in  contact  to  be  faithful  in  the  sphere  of  action  where 
their  special  mission  lay ; and  do  we  not,  when  we  see 
clearly,  behold  more  real  excellence  and  usefulness  among 
those  who  adorn  the  state  to  which  they  are  born,  than 
among  such  as  go  out  of  their  way  to  carve  out  for  them- 


238 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


selves  a channel  of  supposed  greater  usefulness,  where 
often  they  are  unable  to  do  anything  at  all  ? 

Some  people,  envious  no  doubt  of  the  wealth  of  others, 
would  object  to  any  man  or  woman  who  teaches  Theoso- 
phy, or  anything  of  the  kind,  living  other  than  as  a peas- 
ant ; but  so  we  have  not  learned  the  Christ  (Truth). 
In  all  spheres  of  life  great  good  may  be  accomplished  by 
those  who  are  in  those  spheres  exerting  themselves,  as 
far  as  in  them  lies,  to  do  the  good  which  lies  nearest  to 
their  hand.  Jesus  said  to  a very  wealthy  young  man 
who  sought  perfection,  “ Go,  sell  all  thou  hast  and  give 
to  the  poor,  and  come  follow  me,  and  thou  shalt  have 
treasure  in  heaven.”  He  said  also  to  another  who  would 
be  his  disciple,  but  wished  to  linger  to  conduct  a funeral. 
Let  the  dead  bury  their  dead,  but  follow  thou  me.”  In 
another  place,  however,  he  checked  the  ardor  of  an  im- 
petuous missionary  who  would  leave  his  home  and  kin- 
dred to  itinerate  through  Galilee : Go  home.”  Carping 
critics  might  find  in  these  opposite  passages  marks  of 
discordance  in  the  Gospel  teachings ; but  carping  people 
are  always  short-sighted  and  shallow,  and  quite  incapable 
of  looking  at  any  subject  from  more  than  one  (and  that 
their  own)  point  of  view.  The  broad-minded  student 
of  sacred  history  will  soon  learn  that  all  truly  great 
teachers  were  extremely  versatile  in  their  thought  and 
doctrine.  Though  they  never  contradicted  themselves, 
they  were  deep-seeing  enough  to  recommend  each  one 
who  applied  to  them  for  advice  to  do  the  particular  work 
he  could  best  accomplish  in  his  own  place  and  in  his  own 
way ; and  as  the  missions  of  different  people  differ  widely, 
advice  suitable  to  one  would  be  quite  misleading  for  an- 


LECTURE  Xir. 


239 


other.  One  criterion,  however,  we  have  at  all  times,  and 
that  is,  be  sincere,  be  strictly  honest  with  yourself,  never 
toy  with  conviction ; and  to  this  we  add,  never  judge  or 
condemn  another  who  does  not  act  as  you  would,  or 
rather,  as  you  think  you  would  were  you  in  his  place. 

Nothing  illustrates  the  old  adage,  ‘‘  It  takes  all  sorts 
of  people  to  make  a world,”  more  than  Theosophy. 
All  sorts  and  conditions  of  men,  women,  and  children 
are  necessary  to  the  completeness  of  the  human  family 
and  the  performance  of  life’s  multiple  duties.  This 
fact  Lady  Caithness  elaborately  illustrates  in  her  charm- 
ing theosophical  mosaic,  for^which  she  has  culled  from 
all  the  spiritual  and  mystical  flower-gardens  of  the 
world  their  choicest  blossoms.  At  one  time  we  are 
introduced  to  a poor,  half-naked  fakir,  seeking  to  attain 
supreme  blessedness  through  a life  of  complete  renun- 
ciation of  all  external  joys.  Almost  on  the  same  page 
we  read  of  the  spiritual  attainments  of  some  who  have 
adorned  the  highest  stations  in  Church  and  State.  The 
true  catholicity  and  marked  absence  of  prejudice  in  the 
work  of  Lady  Caithness  constitute  its  great  charm. 
In  one  sense  it  is  not  a consecutive  narrative,  as  it 
presents  a series  of  dissolving  views,  so  to  speak,  of 
great  characters,  memorable  events,  and  noble  systems. 
The  information  it  gives  is  ver}-  exact,  and  supported 
by  innumerable  references  to  writers  of  high  standing, 
and  in  this  respect  it  renders  a very  valuable  service 
to  the  student  by  whetting  his  appetite  for  more  knowl- 
edge, and  then  informing  him  just  where  he  can  find  it. 
In  her  copious  and  beautifully  written  preface,  the 
gifted  authoress  launches  upon  her  subject  at  once,  and 


240 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


throws  down  the  gauntlet,  without  delay,  for  material- 
ism and  dogmatic  theology  to  pick  up,  if  they  will. 
She  makes  few,  if  any,  unsupported  statements,  and 
ventures  but  very  few  personal  opinions.  She  says  in 
effect.  Here  are  facts;  deal  with  them  as  you  can.  Con- 
servatism and  radicalism  are  united  throughout  the 
volume ; and  is  it  not  the  province  of  Theosophy  to 
conserve  truth  and  destroy  error  ? — a task  which  can 
never  be  fulfilled  by  either  the  diffident  servant  of 
popular  tradition,  or  the  ruthless  iconoclast  who  sees  no 
good  in  any  system  in  which  he  finds  some  error. 

The  book  opens  with  an  allusion  to  the  famous  story 
of  Hiero  of  Syracuse,  who  proposed  to  Simonides  the 
question.  What  is  God?  He  replied  after  long  and 
earnest  study,  The  longer  I consider  this  question,  the 
more  obscure  it  seems  to  me.”  Cicero  endorsed  the 
statement  of  Simonides,  and  through  all  classic  litera- 
ture it  appears  that  even  the  very  greatest  minds,  who 
sought  for  knowledge  of  divine  truth  by  means  of  in- 
tellect alone,  were  baffled  in  their  search.  All  persons 
who  have  been  reared  in  the  Christian  faith,  and  do 
not  wish  to  surrender  it,  will  find  in  The  Mystery  of 
the  Ages  ” a strong  vindication  of  the  esoteric  claim, 
though  the  same  book  deals  quite  mercilessly  with 
fabulous  and  injurious  dogmas;  which  have  arisen 
from  time  to  time  in  days  of  general  ignorance  and 
oppression. 

The  book  proper  is  divided  into  twelve  very  long 
chapters,  each  of  which  will  prove  well  worthy  of  read- 
ing carefully  at  least  a dozen  times.  Milk  is  the  excep- 
tion, strong  meat  the  rule,  though  the  most  intricate 


LECTURE  XII. 


241 


and  unusual  topics  are  dealt  with  with  surprising  clear- 
ness, in  vigorous  classic  English.  The  first  chapter, 
which  is  ‘introductory,”  commences  with  the  state- 
ment that  a study  of  Theo-Sophia  (Divine  Wisdom) 
alone  enables  man  to  feel  that  divine  love  which  is 
the  supreme  good,  and  the  manifestation  of  the  Eternal 
in  his  own  being.”  In  the  second  chapter,  which  is  on 
“ The  Theory  and  Practice  of  Theosophy,”  a long  list 
of  valuable  books  for  reference  is  given,  at  the  head 
of  which  stands  “ Hermes  Trismegistus,”  translated  by 
Professor  Wilder.  This  work,  and  many  others  recom- 
mended, are  for  advanced  studies,  and  should  be  read 
after  “ The  Mystery  of  the  Ages,”  to  which  it  is  a con- 
cise introduction.  Extracts  are  also  given  from  “ The 
Perfect  Way,”  by  Anna  Kingsford,  which  can  be  ob- 
tained for  12.00  from  any  bookseller,  and  will  well 
repay  re-perusal,  though  some  of  its  statements  are 
severely  contested  by  many  Spiritualists,  who  think  it 
does  not  teach  truly  concerning  the  post-mortem  exist- 
ence of  the  soul.  This  chapter  ends  with  the  most 
true  definition  of  universal  religion — which  Theosophy 
is,  or  it  is  nothing.  “ Our  Temple  is  a Pantheon, 
admitting  all  Divine  Ideas  and  excluding  only  the 
demoniac ; but  before  a God-Idea  is  admitted  it  should 
be  mathematically  examined  as  to  whether  it  is  truly 
Divine.”  When  this  rule  is  strictly  applied,  all  ideas  of 
a Supreme  Being  will  be  rigidly  excluded,  save  that 
glorious  monotheistic  conception,  which  is  the  very 
essence  of  the  Theosophy  of  all  climes  and  ages;  an 
idea  gaining  an  ever-extending  hold  upon  advanced 
minds  everywhere,  that  one  Infinite  Spirit  lives  in  all 


242 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


universes  and  is  the  life  of  all.  Thus,  in  a last  analysis 
of  all  things,  we  arrive  at  spiritual  (not  material)  pan- 
theism, and,  exclaiming,  ‘‘All  is  Spirit,”  we  agree  that 
God  (Infinite  Good  Intelligence)  is  all  in  all. 

Chapter  III.  commences  with  a treatise  on  “ The  Secret 
of  Mythology,”  and  most  ably  argues  down  the  gross 
materialism  of  many  would-be  savans^  who  can  see 
nothing  but  literal  astronomy  clad  in  fanciful  disguise 
in  the  sublime  mysticism  of  the  Hermetists  of  old,  who 
taught  spiritual  science  while  teaching  at  the  same  time 
much  of  importance  concerning  the  physical  aspects  of 
nature.  The  science  of  Correspondence,  familiar  to  all 
students  of  Swedenborg,  opens  up  a wide  field  for  dili- 
gent research;  and  though  some  Swedenborgians  cling 
too  closely  to  the  letter  of  Swedenborg’s  writings,  the 
“New  Jerusalem  Church”  is  doing  far  more  than  any 
other  body  of  Christians  at  the  present  time  to  “ open  up 
the  interior  sense  of  the  Word.”  But  what  is  God’s 
Word?  Is  it  a book  or  is  it  Man?  Human  nature  is 
surely  God’s  inspired  volume,  in  a much  deeper  sense 
than  the  best  literature  can  be ; for,  were  not  men  in- 
spired rather  than  parchment  scrolls  in  the  days  of  old  ? 
and  does  not  the  Bible  itself  inform  us  that  in  the  bright- 
est days  of  Israel’s  history  there  were  living  prophets, 
oracles,  and  voices  ? and  that  only  in  a degenerate  age, 
when  the  celestial  voice  was  not  so  plainly  heard,  did 
men  feel  obliged  to  turn  to  the  written  law  and  testa- 
ment? And  what,  we  may  ask,  is  a testament  but  a 
legacy,  — a something  bequeathed,  left  behind  by  one 
who  can  no  longer  come  in  and  out  among  us  ? Scrip- 
tures are,  no  doubt,  all  susceptible  of  an  interior  inter- 


LECTUHE  XII. 


243 


pretation,  as,  instead  of  being  written  by  ignorant  men, 
they  were  the  work  of  the  exceptionally  enlightened; 
and  though  in  their  present  translated  forms  they  con- 
tain many  blunders,  and  were  not  at  the  start  in  the 
original  necessarily  infallible,  no  unprejudiced  scholar 
can  doubt  for  an  instant  that  they  were  wise  works  of 
wise  men,  written  in  a double  manner,  intended  to  pre- 
serve literal  history  in  a substantially  correct  outward 
guise,  and  to  preserve  for  all  coming  generations  the 
spiritual  wisdom  in  possession  of  the  writers.  The  letter 
is  often  sacrificed  considerably  for  the  sake  of  the  spirit ; 
but  the  spirit  is  never  sacrificed  to  accommodate  the 
letter.  Thus,  literally,  bibles  are  no  sure  guides  in 
matters  of  history,  though  they  are  repositories  of  the 
deepest  truth  the  world  has  become  acquainted  with. 
These  remarks  apply  equally  to  many  bibles,  and  it  would 
be  well  for  Swedenborgians  to  remember  their  leader’s 
words  concerning  the  word  of  the  Lord  hidden  in  Great 
Tartary,  if  tliey  ever  feel  disposed  to  unduly  exalt  one 
canon  and  repudiate  all  others. 

Chapter  IV.  continues  a discussion  of  Hermetic  Theos- 
ophy in  a very  able  comparison  of  Egyptian  and  Chris- 
tian Gnosticism.  From  this  exceedingly  valuable  and 
scholarly  chapter  we  make  the  following  brief  extract, 
regretting  our  limited  space  peremptorily  forbids  more : — 

Christianity,  the  outcome  of  a Xeo-Hermetic  Gnosticism  and 
opposed  to  the  sensualistic  cult  that  for  ages  disfigured  the  ancient 
religious  systems,  had  in  the  first  centuries  of  its  establishment  a 
hard  struggle  for  existence.  Gnosis,'’  individual  experience,  knowl- 
edge of  God,  wa's  the  Center,  the  great  Arcanum,  and  the  Mystic 
Christ.  The  sanctuary  of  Christianity  is  Theosophy.  Christianity 


244 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


would  have  perished  as  the  ephemeral  teachings  of  the  so-called 
false  Messiahs  of  the  Jews,  had  it  not  been  that  it  was  established 
by  those  ignorantly  deplored  and  abused  Gnostic  Heresies.  Gnosis, 
the  sanctuary  of  Christianity,  being  attained  to  by  some  earnest, 
striving  souls,  life  and  reality  was  given  to  the  new  system  by 
their  enthusiasm. 

Chapter  V.  introduces  us  to  the  Theosophy  of  the 
Brahmans,  Magi,  and  Druids.  Chapter  VI.  treats  on 
Buddhist  Theosophy.  Both  these  chapters  are  exceed- 
ingly interesting  and  very  important ; but  we  have  touched 
sufficiently,  perhaps,  on  these  topics  in  the  lectures  or 
essays  devoted  specially  to  their  elucidation,  so  we  will 
not  say  more  about  them  here,  but  pass  on  to  Chapter 
VII.,  entitled  ‘‘Pagan  Theosophy.”  In  the  treatment 
of  this  thoroughly  classic  theme.  Lady  Caithness  intro- 
duces powerful  arguments  to  show  how  its  exclusiveness 
was  demolished  by  two  Jews  (Jesus  and  Paul),  who  by 
preaching  the  Gospel  to  the  multitude  broke  up  the 
aristocratic  hierarchies  which  flourished  in  the  Roman 
Empire  in  their  day.  Concerning  the  Eleusinian  and 
Bacchic  Mysteries  we  have  spoken  in  another  place,  but 
will  here  introduce  a fine  passage  concerning  the  phi- 
losophers: “Nearly  all  ancient  philosophers  were  not 
only  Initiates,  but  also  Esoterists,  teaching  Theosophy 
under  the  veil  of  allegory.  They  were  all  spiritual 
teachers,  and  their  Philosophy  was  Theosophy.  Material 
terms  were  only  used  as  symbols  for  spiritual  things.” 
If  this  fact  were  only  realized  in  modern  universities, 
Avhere  Greek  verse  is  parsed  and  translated  without  the 
student  being  led  to  imagine  there  is  anything  of  merit 
in  it  beyond  the  rhythm,  how  living  collegiate  studies 


LECTURE  XII. 


245 


would  become  where  now  they  are  dead  and  lifeless  as 
inanimate  marble.  Orpheus,  Hesiod,  Xenophanes,  Em- 
pedocles, and  many  other  famous  bards  of  ancient  Greece 
have  sung  pure  spiritual  truth  in  lines  now  usually  re- 
garded as  devoid  of  any  valuable  meaning.  Let  Theos- 
ophy awaken  the  thoughts  of  the  multitude,  and  Ezekiel’s 
vision  of  dry  bones  will  be  realized  in  our  universities. 

The  eighth  chapter,  on  ^‘Semitic  Theosophy,”  contrib- 
utes a great  deal  of  valuable  information  on  the  Kabbala. 
The  Hebrew  religion  is  very  appreciatively  dealt  with, 
and  truthful  reasons  for  Levitical  ceremonies  assigned. 
It  is  doubtful  whether  the  Jews,  as  a people,  ever  under- 
stood the  spirit  of  their  religion  to  any  great  extent ; but 
the  Sages  undoubtedly  understood  something  very  dif- 
ferent from  the  vulgar  conception  of  the  populace.  The 
most  fantastic  ceremonies,  when  traced  to  their  origin, 
are  all  found  to  be  reasonable,  and  calculated  to  benefit 
the  place  and  time,  where  and  when  they  were  insti- 
tuted. Much  information  is  given  concerning  the  Naz- 
arites,  who  were  prophets,  and  as  such  unpopular  with 
the  priests,  who  were  ever  apt  to  despise  prophesyings ; 
prophets  being  living  mouth-pieces  of  a continuous  reve- 
lation, while  priests  are  jealous  custodians  of  the  manna 
which  fell  the  day  before. 

Chapter  IX.  treats  of  “ The  Sufis  and  Mohammedan 
Theosophy.”  In  analyzing  the  character  of  the  founder 
of  the  religion  of  Islam,  the  authoress  is  very  ready 
to  credit  him  with  many  solid  excellencies,  though  she 
does  not  claim  him  to  have  been  anything  like  a perfect 
character.  The  very  word  Islam  means  resignation,  or 
entire  submission  to  the  will  of  God.  In  its  theoretical 


246 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


part  it  is  called  Imdn^  Faith;  in  its  practice,  Sin^  Religion 
(or  Wisdom),  which  contains  the  ritual  and  moral  laws, 
inculcating  four  chief  duties,  — prayer,  almsgiving,  fast- 
ing, and  pilgrimage.  The  belief  in  angels  forms  a prom- 
inent dogma ; they  are  created  of  fire,  and  stand  between 
God  and  man, — adoring  and  serving  the  one,  interceding 
for  and  guarding  the  other.  Besides  angels  there  are 
good  and  evil  genii.  The  poor  will  enter  Paradise  five 
hundred  years  before  the  rich ; there  are  about  a hun- 
dred degrees  of  the  various  felicities  which  await  the 
pious,  and  those  who  go  to  heaven  find  exceedingly  sen- 
sual delights  prepared  for  them.  There  are,  however, 
higher  degrees  of  recompense  of  a purely  spiritual  kind, 
for  those  who  are  of  a higher  and  more  spiritual  nature, 
and  who  on  earth  have  lived  the  inner  life  of  the  spirit 
rather  than  the  outward  life  of  the  senses.  Some  curious 
historical  facts  are  quoted  to  prove  Mo-Ahmed  ‘‘the 
10th  Avatar  or  Theosophic  Messenger  from  the  Logos, 
or  Divine  Wisdom.”  The  grand  Mosque  at  Constanti- 
nople significantly  named  “ Santa  Sophia,”  which  is 
divided  into  four  stages,  is  remarked  upon  as  setting 
forth  four  stages  through  which  the  initiate  passes  dur- 
ing his  probation,  till  he  reaches  the  divine  arcanum. 
Before  concluding  this  section  Persian  Theosophy  is 
interestingly  alluded  to. 

Chapter  X.,  on  “ Christian  Theosophy,”  is  very  fine ; 
and  had  we  not  written  so  much  on  that  score  ourselves 
we  should  be  tempted  to  quote  largely  from  Lady  Caith- 
ness, who  deals  with  it  with  a master-hand.  We  will 
just  give  a few  extracts  which  convey  the  entire  pith 
and  marrow  of  the  difference  between  Esoteric  and  Exo- 


LECTURE  XII. 


247 


teric  Christianity,  which  is  hourly  becoming  more  ap- 
parent. ‘‘^The  Son  of  God  died  for  my  sins,’  is  far 
more  pleasing  to  an  ordinary  mind  than  the  truth  that 
he  must  die  to  his  sins  in  order  to  become  a true  Son  of 
God.  Jesus,  imparting  the  true  Gnosis,  or  knowledge,  to 
those  who  for  generations  had  been  deluded  by  sacrificial 
perversions  of  religion,  was  with  necessary  emphasis 
regarded  by  his  disciples  as  the  Divine  Light  becoming 
manifested  to  those  who  sat  in  darkness.”  Theosophi- 
cally,  then,  the  Gospels  are  the  histories  of  an  inward 
and  regenerating  principle,  called  the  only  begotten  Son 
of  God,  which  is  the  Saviour  of  humanity ; for  it  redeems 
man  from  the  prison  house  of  earth ; and  the  develop- 
ment in  him  of  this  principle  transforms  the  Son  of  Man 
into  the  Son  of  God.  Call  it  the  Spirit  of  Truth,  or  call 
it  Love,  or  Life ; or  call  it  Wisdom,  the  Logos,  or  the 
sixth  Principle  in  man,  as  do  the  Buddhists ; or  the  Key- 
stone of  the  Arch,  as  do  the  Royal  Arch-Masons ; or  the 
Head-stone  of  the  Corner,  as  do  the  Scriptures  in  certain 
places : it  is  always  the  highest  state  to  which  man  can 
attain.  It  is,  in  fact,  ^ to  put  on  Christ.’  ” Read  in  this 
connection  Matt,  xvi.,  which  gives  an  account  of  Jesus 
saying  to  Peter  that  he  will  build  his  church  on  a rock, 
and  we  shall  the  better  understand  the  esoteric  founda- 
tion of  the  spiritual  (not  the  outward)  catholic  church.” 
To  the  Gospel-writers  Christ  was  the  invisible  Holy  One 
of  Israel,  seen  through  the  veil  of  the  Old  Testament ; 
not  merely  the  Spirit  of  the  Old  Testament,  but  Life 
itself  that  was  before  Abraham,  or,  as  Christ  calls  it,  the 
Spirit  of  Truth  that  should  guide  us  into  all  truth.  This 
was  the  secret  of  those  earlier  Theosophists,  the  Essenes, 


248 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


and  was  regarded  as  a great  mystery,  called  the  ‘ Mys- 
tery of  Christ,’  because  it  is  certainly  not  of  a nature  to 
be  communicated  by  any  external  process,  for  it  must  be 
felt  and  lived  before  it '-can  be  spiritually  understood.” 

Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  a soul  in  its  last  earthly  embodi- 
ment whose  life  was  a model ; a pattern  life,  of  match- 
less purity  and  devotion  to  duty.  Had  he  been  more 
than  perfect  man,  he  would  have  been  too  exalted  to  be 
an  example  to  humanity.  We  utterly  fail  to  see  how  or 
why,  with  any  show  of  consistency,  those  who  believe  in 
the  successive  embodiments  of  the  human  spirit  until  it 
reaches  perfection,  can  dispute  the  fact  of  an  occasional 
case  in  point  occurring  as  an  illustration  of  the  fact  that 
the  human  spirit  in  its  final  embodiment  on  earth,  mani- 
fests the  perfect  character,  to  ensure  which,  all  preceding 
embodiments  have  been  a necessity.”  The  Christ  is 
indeed  the  central  or  spiritual  Sun  of  human  life ; the 
source  of  its  better  inspiration,  and  the  genius  of  its 
supreme  evolution  and  final  ascension.” 

Chapter  XI.,  on  The  Theosophic  Interpretation  of 
the  Bible,”  commences,  all  that  is  true  is  Spiritual ; 
no  chapter  in  the  Bible  bears  (only)  a physical  mean- 
ing. For  Matter  as  it  now  exists  shall  cease,  and  all 
that  is  of  it,  but  the  Word  of  the  Lord  shall  endure 
forever.  And  how  shall  it  endure  except  it  be  purely 
Spiritual ; since,  when  Matter  ceases,  it  would  then  be 
no  longer  comprehensible  ? ” Then  follow  extracts 
from  The  Perfect  Way,”  which  we  hope  many  of  our 
readers  will  procure  and  study,  though  it  is  not  a book 
for  beginners  by  any  means,  and  we  conceive  much  harm 
to  be  often  ignorantly  done  by  commencing  with  ad- 


LECTURE  XII. 


249 


vanced  treatises  instead  of  elementary  text-books.  Our 
aim  is  to  introduce  excerpts  from  advanced  works,  rather 
to  show  the  simplicity  of  the  spirit  than  to  exhibit  the 
complexity  of  the  literal  form  of  Theosophy.  “ The 
Science  of  Correspondences  Elucidated,”  ^ by  Edward 
Madeley,  is  a large  and  very  helpful  work  for  those  who 
can  glean  knowledge  when  presented  in  a form  accepta- 
ble to  Swedenborgians.  It  certainly  is  a treasure-house 
of  wisdom  for  many  Sunday-school  and  Bible-class  teach- 
ers who  cannot  feed  their  classes  with  literal  husks  and 
consider  they  have  done  their  duty,  and  who  would  be 
the  last  people  in  the  world  to  throw  the  Bible  over- 
board and  substitute  simply  ethical  treatises  by  modern 
authors.  Lady  Caithness’  words  on  this  subject  are 
numerous  and  deep  ; they  are  of  a character  to  greatly 
interest  scholars,  and  at  the  same  time  are  sufficiently 
simple  to  be  useful  to  every  thoughtful  and  fairly 
instructed  reader.  Her  quotations  from  the  Fathers  of 
the  Church,  Augustine,  Origen,  and  others,  are  exceed- 
ingly apposite ; but  it  is  not  necessary  to  study  the 
patristic  writings  to  gain  a spiritual  insight  into  the 
meaning  of  inspired  documents.  Every  one  may  be  his 
own  priest  and  key,  if  he  but  faithfully  seek  illumina- 
tion by  aspiring  ever  toward  the  highest  and  abstaining 
in  thought,  as  well  as  in  word  and  deed,  from  all  car- 
nality. 

The  concluding  chapter,  the  twelfth,  commences  as 
follows  : “ The  knowledge  or  revelation  of  God  comes 
to  the  world  in  cycles  or  waves”,-  and  ends  with  the  fol- 

1 Published  by  E.  Claxton  & Co.,  930  Market  Street,  Philadelphia. 
Price  11.50. 


260 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


lowing  quotation,  When,  after  an  earthly  pilgrimage 
of  many  centuries,  the  wandering  Jew  prototype  of  unbe- 
lieving man  shall  return  at  length  to  Jerusalem  (state 
of  peace),  he  will  find  himself  in  the  midst  of  a great 
multitude  assembled  from  every  quarter  of  the  world, 
and  gathered  around  an  altar  on  Mount  Moriah  (height 
where  truth  is  manifested).  He  will  look  at  the  offici- 
ating priest,  and  his  eyes  will  overflow  with  tears  as  he 
will  exclaim : ^ ’Tis  He ! ’ and  fall  down  at  His  feet.  He 
will  regard  the  holy  offering  which  the  pontiff  raises 
above  the  heads  of  the  crowd,  and  with  a deep-drawn 
sigh,  he  will  again  exclaim,  ‘ ’Tis  He ! ’ and  will  wor- 
ship Him  the  second  time.  He  will  look  around  on  the 
multitude  as  far  as  his  eyes  can  reach,  and  recognize 
Him  in  each  one  of  his  brother-men,  and  will  cry  with 
a sob,  ‘ ’ Tis  He  again ! He  is  present  in  all ! ’ Tis  He 
everywhere!  ’Tis  always  He!''  and  he  will  sink  down 
in  the  deepest  adoration.  At  length  he  will  look  into 
the  depths  of  his  own  being,  and  then  his  heart  will 
melt  with  love  and  gratitude,  for  he  will  at  last  discover 
Him  in  his  own  heart.  His  selfhood  will  have  become 
transmuted  into  that  of  the  Christ,  and  the  work  of 
regeneration  will  be  finished.” 

Thus  ends,  with  an  exquisite  extract  couched  in  the 
most  fervent  prose  poetry,  “ The  Mystery  of  the  Ages,” 
by  the  Duchesse  de  Pomar,  a work  almost  without  a 
peer  in  modern  literature,  written  by  a woman  whose 
presence  in  the  world  is  a perpetual  benediction,  and  in 
whose  own  graceful  and  actively  useful  life.  Theosophy 
finds  one  of  its  truest  exponents. 

Deeming  the  following  extracts  from  an  article  en- 


LECTURE  XII. 


251 


titled,  ‘‘The  Test  of  Theosophic  Interest,”  published 
in  The  Path  of  January,  1889,  of  more  than  ordinary 
interest  and  instructiveness,  we  give  them  to  our  readers 
as  a sequel  to  this  chapter  : — 

The  test  of  Theosophic  interest  is  precisely  the  test  of  every 
other  kind  of  interest,  — What  one  will  do  to  promote  it.  And 
here,  obviously,  two  considerations  arise. 

The  first  is,  that  no  act  which  is  superficial,  or  perfunctory,  or 
for  personal  benefit,  can  at  all  gauge  devotion  to  a cause  which  is 
both  impersonal  and  deep-reaching.  It  is  easy  to  descant  on  the 
glory  of  a system  so  elevated  as  the  Wisdom-Religion.  It  is  as 
easy  to  proclaim  one’s  own  appreciation  of  its  tenets.  It  is  not 
difficult  to  attend  punctiliously  the  meetings  of  a Theosophical 
Society,  and  to  absorb  with  readiness,  perhaps  with  profit,  whatever 
of  truth  may  be  there  disclosed.  It  may  not  be  easy,  but  it  is 
entirely  possible,  to  read  every  theosophical  work  of  repute,  to 
extract  its  main  thought,  and  to  digest  well  the  learning  acquired. 
And  yet,  very  evidently,  the  first  two  are  exercises  only  of  the 
voice,  the  last  two  only  of  the  mind.  If  Theosophy  was  a matter 
of  the  breath  or  the  brains,  this  participation  in  it  would  not  only 
be  salutary,  but  ample. 

In  truth,  however.  Theosophy  gives  but  a light  benediction  to 
either  the  mere  talker  or  the  mere  student.  It  by  no  means  under- 
values sincere  homage  or  zealous  inquiry,  but  it  is  so  intent  on  the 
work  of  transferring  interest  from  the  lower  to  the  higher  levels 
of  being,  so  eager  to  excite  the  unselfish  enthusiasm  for  others’ 
good,  which,  subordinating  its  own  advancement,  shall  be  most 
thrilled  at  the  chance  to  advance  Humanity,  that  its  ideal  is  the 
man  who  is  exerting  himself  to  help  others,  rather  than  the  man 
who  is  exerting  himself  to  get  ahead.  . . . 

Of  the  three  objects  contemplated  in  the  establishment  of  the 
Theosophical  Society,  the  first  and  greatest  is  the  promotion  of 
Universal  Brotherhood.  But  this  does  not  mean  merely  a senti- 
mental recognition  of  a general  human  fraternity;  it  means  an 
active  beneficence  toward  the  rest  of  the  family.  And  if  correct 


252 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


views,  loftier  ideals,  richer  motives,  finer  principles,  healthier  aspi- 
rations are  more  attainable  through  the  theosophic  system  than 
through  other  systems  of  faith  or  morals,  the  Theosophist  is  best 
serving  the  interests  of  his  brother-men  by  giving  that  system  all 
the  publicity  he  can.  . . . 

The  second  consideration  referred  to  at  the  outset  is  that  the 
test  of  theosophic  interest  is  not  the  absolute  amount  of  help 
given,  but  that  amount  as  related  to  the  capacity  of  the  giver. 
Five  cents,  five  hours,  constitute  a far  larger  proportion  of  one 
man’s  available  means  or  time,  than  five  thousand  dollars  or  five 
months  do  of  another’s.  Hence  it  is  not  the  figures,  but  their 
fractional  value,  which  determines  the  extent  of  the  interest.  Just 
so  is  it  in  every  other  human  interest.  How  much  one  cares  for  a 
relation,  for  a friend,  for  a philanthropic  cause,  for  a public  object, 
is  unerringly  shown  by  the  proportion  of  outlay  he  devotes  thereto. 
And  this  does  not  mean  a careless  profusion  with  superfiuous 
goods,  but  the  cutting-ofi  of  personal  indulgences,  cherished  but 
dispensable,  for  the  better  sustentation  of  a cause,  — in  other 
word,  self-sacrifice.  Nor  does  self-sacrifice  mean  the  sacrifice  of 
other  people,  as  some  think ; the  bearing  with  great  fortitude  pri- 
vations one  does  not  share,  the  consecration  of  money  or  time  or 
effort  which  really  belongs  to  one’s  family  or  entourage.  It  means 
the  sacrifice  of  yourself,  of  your  own  habits  and  enjoyments  and  ex- 
penses, in  order  to  build  up  a cause  you  profess  to  love.  And  the 
extent  to  which  this  is  done  gauges  the  proportion  of  your  love  for 
that  cause  to  your  love  for  yourself. 

Now  Theosophy  is  not  unreasonable  or  captious.  It  does  not 
advise  any  man  to  starve  himself,  or  to  wear  rags,  or  to  scout  at 
the  conditions  of  life  in  the  civilization  wherein  he  was  born  and 
which  express  the  laws  of  sociology.  It  does  not  enjoin  monasti- 
cism  or  seclusion,  or  parsimony,  or  want  of  public  spirit,  or  abne- 
gation of  social  amenities,  or  one-sidedness,  or  bigotry,  or  folly 
under  any  name.  We  are  to  be  men,  rational  men,  civilized  men, 
cultivated  men ; and  we  promote  no  noble  cause,  least  of  all  the 
noblest,  if  we  are  unsocial,  unpractical,  or  fantastic.  But  while 
all  this  is  true,  it  is  equally  true  that  in  one’s  own  private  affairs, 
in  that  sphere  of  personal  belongings  outside  the  claims  of  others, 


LECTURE  XII. 


253 


and  wherein  absolute  freedom  is  unquestioned,  the  test  of  theo- 
sophic  interest  is  directly  applicable.  It  is,  as  has  been  shown,  the 
proportion  of  time,  money,  literary  or  other  effort  one  is  willing 
to  give  up.  . . . 

What  is  there  for  me  to  do?  Everything  that  you  can  do. 
A word,  a hint,  a tract,  a volume,  a subscription.  If  it  costs  you 
nothing,  your  interest  is  nothing.  If  it  costs  you  little,  your  inter- 
est is  little.  If  it  costs  you  till  you  feel  it,  then  it  is  that  you  feel 
your  interest.  And  when  you  yourself,  body,  soul,  and  spirit,  are 
devoted  to  the  doing,  when  you  thrill  with  that  topic  as  with  no 
other  topic,  when  your  pleasure  is  in  self-sacrificing  efforts  for  its 
promotion,  when  you  forget  yourself,  have  lost  yourself,  in  it,  then 
will  you  have  become  in  measure  what  are  the  Founders,  — may 
one  not  even  say,  what  are  the  Masters  themselves. 

These  bold,  noble  sentences  were  signed,  ‘‘Harris 
P.,”  who  evidently  is  a very  earnest  worker  for  the 
Society,  whose  interest  he  holds  so  dear.  We  have 
only  extracted  from  his  able  and  eloquent  plea  such 
passages  as  refer  to  consecration  of  time,  money,  and 
all  one  has  to  give  to  one’s  highest  ideal.  As  to  joining 
or  working  for  the  Theosophical  Society,  every  individ- 
ual must  decide  for  him  or  herself.  Our  counsel  is, 
work  wherever  you  feel  your  work  lies,  and  because 
you  feel  it  lies  there.  Care  not  where  or  how  others 
work ; ask  not  for  their  commendation,  nor  be  depressed 
if  their  criticisms  are  unfavorable.  Fidelity  to  the 
inner  light,  to  the  esoteric  Christ,  the  illuminator  of 
the  world,  will  alone  enable  us  to  unravel  the  “ mystery 
of  the  ages,”  and  so  solve  life’s  problem  as  to  enable  us 
to  know  that  “ all  is  good.” 


LECTURE  XIII. 


PERSIAN,  GREEK,  AND  ROMAN  THEOSOPHY. 

As  the  Persian  religion  has  excited  so  much  attention 
on  account  of  the  dualism  which  is  considered  its  lead- 
ing feature,  and  as  Persian  ideas  have  without  doubt 
found  their  way  largely  into  the  Hebrew  Scriptures, 
any  treatise  purporting  to  give  an  outline  of  universal 
Theosophy  would  be  singularly  incomplete  were  no  ref- 
erence made  to  the  grand  old  faith  of  the  Parsees,  many 
of  whom  are  to-day  sojourners  in  Hindustan,  where  they 
form  a distinct  community,  carrying  on  their  worship  in 
their  own  peculiar  way,  much  as  do  the  Jews  in  Chris- 
tian communities,  where  they  trade  with  Gentiles  freely, 
but  in  all  religious  matters  keep  quite  distinct  from 
those  about  them. 

Zoroaster,  the  name  by  which  the  alleged  founder  of 
Parseeism  is  generally  known,  stands  for  a divine  incar- 
nation, much  as  Buddha  does  among  his  followers,  and 
as  there  have  been  several  Buddhas,  so  there  have  been 
several  illumined  teachers,  from  whose  actual  lives  the 
biography  of  the  traditional  Zoroaster  has  been  com- 
piled. Some  historians  place  the  date  of  Zoroaster  at 
6000  B.c. ; others  make  him  a contemporary  of  Abra- 
ham; others,  coeval  with  Pythagoras.  As  these  dates 
differ  by  thousands  of  years,  as  well  as  centuries,  it 


LECTURE  XIII. 


255 


seems  incredible  that  the  same  personage  is  intended 
in  all  instances ; it  is  far  more  reasonable  to  conclude 
that  some  illumined  teacher  has  left  a record  behind 
him  dating  back  to  6000  B.C.,  while  another  lived  in  the 
days  of  Abraham,  and  again  another  in  the  lifetime  of 
Pythagoras. 

The  name  Zoroaster,  or  Zurthost,  really  means  a spir- 
itual messenger,  aglow  with  sacred  fire,  and  one  who 
brings  light  to  the  world,  as  fire  emits  light  and  heat 
to  its  surroundings ; one,  moreover,  who  consumes  the 
stubble  of  error  and  purifies  the  gold  of  truth,  by  sep- 
arating from  it  the  alloy  with  which  on  earth  it  has 
been  mingled.  As  Christ,  Buddha,  Krishna,  and  Zoro- 
aster are  all  spiritual  titles,  they  have  never  been  used 
exclusively  with  regard  to  any  single  individual.  The 
Zend-Avesta,  or  four  chief  sacred  books  of  the  Parsees, 
are  in  some  respects  not  at  all  unlike  the  Hindu  Vedas 
and  the  Hermetic  writings  of  Egypt,  which  so  closely 
resemble  each  other  as  to  be  almost  indistinguishable. 
The  main  feature  of  Parseeism  is  its  doctrine  of  eternal 
fire,  which  is  the  one  absolute  divine  element,  from 
which  all  creation  issues,  and  to  which  it  all  returns. 

The  author  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  must  have 
been  greatly  a Parsee  in  spirit  when  he  said,  Our  God 
is  a consuming  fire  ” ; but  so  were  almost  all  the  Old 
Testament  writers,  for  scarcely  ever  do  we  hear  of  a 
divine  revelation  unaccompanied  by  fire.  The  pure  Fire- 
Spirit  of  the  Parsees  and  the  Hebrew  Jehovah,  who  is 
the  God  that  answers  by  fire,  according  to  the  Book  of 
Kings,  are  almost  identical  in  conception.  Swedenborg 
also  compares  divine  life  to  fire,  and  says  that  heat  cor- 


256 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


responds  to  love,  and  light  to  wisdom;  therefore,  as 
God  is  perfect  love  and  wisdom,  fire  is  the  only  element 
to  which  He  can  be  likened ; and  this  is  a thoroughly 
reasonable  and  acceptable  view,  as  fire  is  the  only  all- 
purifying  and  incorruptible  element:  earth,  air,  and 
water  are  subject  to  contamination,  and  often  con- 
ducive of  disease;  fire  is  all-purifying,  and  can  never 
suffer  pollution. 

To  show  the  universality  of  the  Divine  Spirit  and 
God’s  immanence  in  the  universe,  the  Parsee  priest, 
when  preparing  the  sacred  fire,  would  kindle  a flame  in 
several  places,  and  then,  to  show  forth  the  truth  that 
the  divine  life  is  the  innermost  life  of  all  that  lives, 
would  take  only  the  pure  essence  of  the  flame,  refined 
through  many  symbolic  processes."  In  Olcott’s  Address 
to  the  Parsees  ” we  have  a fascinating  account  of  how 
the  fire  is  brought  from  heaven,  the  ^‘missing  spirit 
evoked  by  the  adept  Prometheus.”  In  recent  novels 
we  have  come  across  many  allusions  to  these  ancient 
and  suggestive  practices,  and  stories  containing  such 
references  are  always  eagerly  read,  showing  that  a pop- 
ular interest  is  at  last  awakened  in  the  great  religions 
of  the  world.  Such  an  awakenment  of  popular  senti- 
ment cannot  but  help  forward  the  glorious  cause  of 
universal  brotherhood,  — as  we  only  need  to  know  each 
other  better,  to  love  each  other  more. 

As  we  pursue  our  studies  in  ancient  religions  we  are 
struck  ever  more  and  more  with  the  wonderful  unity 
in  the  spirit  and  essential  teaching  of  all ; and  more 
and  more  convinced  that  the  recent  materialistic  reac- 
tion, momentarily  assisted  by  a cursory  glance  at  a few 


LECTURE  XIII. 


267 


scientific  discoveries,  will  soon  have  passed  entirely  from 
the  minds  of  reasoning  men.  On  no  subject  has  more 
ignorance  been  displayed  than  with  reference  to  the 
true  meaning  of  the  six  days  of  creation.”  Zoroaster’s 
teaching  on  this  subject  may  be  interesting  to  those 
who  are  studying  comparative  cosmogony.  It  is  said 
that  at  his  initiation  he  acquired  the  following  idea  of 
the  formation  of  the  globe,  which  was  slowly  evolved 
during  six  gigantic  periods  of  time,  of  indefinite  dura- 
tion, and  which  are  termed  Crdhambdrs^  meaning  ages 
or  cycles  of  great  length.  In  the  first,  the  heavenly 
canopy  was  formed ; in  the  second,  water  was  brought 
into  existence ; in  the  third,  the  earth  became  solid ; in 
the  fourth,  vegetation  sprang  forth  ; in  the  fifth,  animal 
life  was  slowly  evolved ; and  in  the  sixth,  the  animals 
culminated  in  man.  The  seventh  period  is  the  day  of 
the  advent  of  the  Messiah,  when  the  sun  of  our  solar 
system  will  be  extinguished,  and  Pralaya^  a period  of 
rest  from  all  striving,  will  begin. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  Persians  as  well  as 
the  Hindus  were  deeply  versed  in  the  sciences  of  invo- 
lution and  evolution,  and  it  is  an  ignorance  impossible 
to  the  learned  to  berate  ancient  scriptures,  and  attribute 
them  to  unenlightened  romancers.  They  all  contain  an 
inner  meaning,  and  are  in  a sense  masonic  documents. 
This  is  particularly  true  of  books  like  Daniel  and  the 
Apocalypse,  which  are  almost  wholly  correspondential ; 
but  even  those  in  which  the  historical  element  far  more 
largely  preponderates,  are  by  no  means  simple  records 
of  local  mundane  events.  The  Supreme  Being  is 
considered  by  the  Parsees  to  be  revealed  to  man  only 


258 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


in  the  purest  essence  of  fire  ; the  sacred  fire  is  never 
allowed  to  go  out  in  the  temples,  where  it  burns  as  a 
perpetual  reminder  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul  as 
well  as  of  the  ever-living  Deity.  In  time,  the  Persian 
religion  presents  us  with  two  divinities,  or  rather  with 
a divine  being  (Ormuzd)  and  a diabolical  spirit  (Ahri- 
man)  ; but  these  are  brothers,  and  though  they  contend 
for  a while,  they  are  at  length  reconciled.  Thus  the 
distinct  teaching  is  that  evil,  having  a beginning,  must 
have  an  end  ; Good,  being  beginningless,  is  also  endless. 
As  the  zodiacal  element  enters  into  all  systems,  it  would 
not  be  difficult  to  connect  the  six  good  spirits  who  pro- 
ceed from  Ormuzd  with  the  six  summer  signs,  and  the 
six  evil  spirits  which  issue  from  Ahriman  as  the  six 
winter  signs,  and  then  in  the  restitution  of  all  things, 
so  firmly  believed  in  by  every  devout  Parsee,  trace 
the  growth  of  man’s  conception,  from  belief  in  evil  to 
acknowledgment  of  good  only.  Beginning  with  March 
25th  (Lady  Day)  and  ending  with  September  29th 
(Michaelmas),  the  good  powers  were  always  recognized 
as  in  the  ascendant ; while  beginning  with  Michaelmas 
and  ending  with  Lady  Day,  the  evil  powers  were  con- 
sidered regnant.  But  no  ultimate  triumph  was  ever 
conceded  to  aught  but  good ; hence  one  of  the  grandest 
festivals  of  the  year  was  invariably  celebrated  in  the 
middle  of  winter.  Though  in  time  the  Parsees  believed 
in  a perpetual  conflict  between  good  personified  in 
Ormuzd  and  evil  in  Ahriman,  in  eternity  good  alone 
was  to  triumph.  Thus  the  Parsees  were  very  early 
Universalists,  and  taught  exactly  what  Hosea  Ballou 
and  other  American  preachers  of  modern  times  pro- 


LECTURE  XIII. 


259 


claimed  when  opposing  the  tenets  of  the  then  prevail- 
ing Calvinism. 

Persons  who  read  one  bible,  and  one  only,  can  hardly 
understand  the  one  they  read:  thus,  the  ignorant  and 
bigoted  classes  are  composed,  on  the  one  hand,  of  those 
who  worship  one  bible,  and  on  the  other,  of  those  who 
hate  one  bible.  The  enlightened  student  of  compara- 
tive theology,  who  has  read  and  studied  several  bibles, 
neither  accepts  blindly  nor  blindly  condemns ; he  rea- 
sons and  compares,  with  a view  to  finding  the  under- 
lying truth  in  all  systems  of  religion,  knowing  from 
experience  that  all  truth  cannot  be  found  in  one.  Rev. 
Leighton  Parks,  rector  of  Emanuel  Church,  Boston,  in 
a very  charming  volume,  entitled  ‘‘His  Star  in  the 
East : A Study  of  the  Early  Aryan  Religions,”  has 
many  very  interesting  facts  to  relate  concerning  the 
Parsees,  as  well  as  other  Oriental  bodies,  among  Avhich 
nothing  is  more  important  than  the  part  played  by 
Parseeism  in  moulding  Hebrew  and,  more  latterly,  Chris- 
tian thought  and  literature.  Previous  to  the  time  of 
the  Babylonish  captivity,  the  Jews  seem  to  have  known 
nothing  of  an  accuser,  or  Satan ; but  in  the  days  of 
Ezra,  when  the  Scriptures  were  re-written,  this  dis- 
tinctly Persian  personage  appears  prominently  on  the 
scene.  The  serpent  of  Genesis  ii.  may  have  come  from 
Egypt,  also  the  two  classes  of  serpents  mentioned  in 
the  story  of  the  journeyings  through  the  wilderness,  as 
two  diametrically  opposed  aspects  of  the  serpent  were 
familiar  to  the  Egyptians  of  old.  The  elevated  serpent 
signified  wisdom,  and  was  a very  imposing  emblem  of 
eternal  knowledge  and  immortal  life,  while  the  serpent 


260 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


in  its  lower  attitude  was  the  symbol  of  carnality,  and 
to  be  trampled  under  foot  by  the  higher  human  nature. 
The  Egyptian  devil,  Typhon,  is  regarded  by  some  as 
the  prototype  of  the  Satan  of  the  Book  of  Job;  but 
this  latter  character  corresponds  so  exactly  with  the 
Persian  Ahriman  that  there  can  be  little  doubt  of  their 
proximate  identity,  i.e.  the  Hebrew  Satan  is  the  Per- 
sian Ahriman  with  a little  different  local  coloring. 

Now,  when  the  Parsees  taught  that  Ormuzd  created 
six  gods,  and  that  Ahriman  also  created  six  gods,  and 
therefore  in  time  the  universe  was  subject  to  the  equal 
sway  of  good  and  evil,  they  intended  only  to  illustrate 
that,  despite  the  prevalence  of  darkness  equally  with 
light  on  earth,  light  alone  reigned  in  eternity.  Thus 
the  rival  deities  are  found  to  be  one  in  their  source 
and  one  in  their  destiny.  As  light  is  the  most  befitting 
emblem  of  knowledge,  so  darkness  corresponds  to  igno- 
rance ; but  there  can  be  no  two  opposite  substances  or 
realities  in  the  universe.  God  is  light,  and  the  only 
reality;  Satan  is  darkness,  and  therefore  but  the  shadow 
of  God.  When  once  this  sublime  truth  is  realized,  there 
will  be  no  further  misunderstanding  or  lack  of  solution 
of  the  problem  of  life.  Evil  is  no  good,  as  darkness  is 
no  light  and  ignorance  no  knowledge.  ‘‘Father,  forgive 
them,  for  they  know  not  what  they  do,”  occurs  to  our 
mind  at  this  time  as  a most  philosophical,  as  well  as 
charitable,  construction  to  put  upon  human  error  and 
misdeeds.  But  if  there  be  no  crime  in  ignorance,  it  is 
surely  a most  undesirable  and  decidedly  unsatisfactory 
condition ; therefore  let  us  seek  enlightenment,  and  do 
all  in  our  power  to  illumine  the  path  of  those  who  yet 


LECTURE  XIII. 


261 


wander  on  in  darkness.  If  sin  is  mistake,”  let  us  use 
every  agency  we  can  employ  to  rectify  that  error. 

Education,  though  sometimes  severe  as  a discipline, 
is  never  spiteful  or  retaliative  in  its  methods.  When 
one  is  cold,  you  bring  him  to  the  fire,  or  let  the  sun 
shine  on  him,  and  warmth,  the  universal  invigorator,  is 
the  only  stimulant  needed  in  cases  of  drowning,  etc. : 
whatever  is  given  to  stimulate  is  intended  to  warm ; a 
warm  body  is  a living  organism ; a cold  one  is  a corpse. 
Thus  is  tribute  hourly  paid  in  the  Far  West  in  these 
later  days  to  the  grand  conception  of  the  ancients  that 
fire  is  life,  and  life  is  fire ; for  where  the  fire  goes  out 
animation  is  extinct,  and  to  reanimate  the  frame,  the 
fiame  must  be  rekindled.  As  it  is  cold  when  the  sun 
does  not  shine  on  us  (i.e,  when  something  intervenes 
between  us  and  its  beams),  so  our  ignorance  is  the 
shadow  to  remove,  and  when  this  is  removed,  we  know 
one  only  God,  and  all  false  notions  of  duality  are  ex- 
ploded. 

The  true  dualism  of  reason  and  intuition  in  man  is 
the  dualism  of  heat  and  light,  which  ever  proceed  from 
the  one  parent  source — fire.  Fire  is  both  hot  and 
bright : coal  may  be  hot  within  when  not  bright  .with- 
out; but  there  can  be  no  flame  without  heat,  though 
there  can  be  heat  without  visible  flame.  When  we  re- 
member that  heat  corresponds  to  love,  and  light  to 
wisdom,  and  that  both  are  expressions  of  the  one  divine 
element,  fire,  we  shall  understand  the  spirit  not  only 
of  Zoroastrianism,  but  of  Swedenborg,  for  the  great 
Scandinavian  sage  taught  thousands  of  years  later  what 
the  gifted  Persians  taught  long  before  the  Christian 


262 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


era,  concerning  the  divine  nature  and  its  twofold  mani- 
festation in  the  visible  universe.  Purity  was  and  is 
the  watchword  of  Parseeism.  The  little  colony  of 
Parsees  now  resident  in  Bombay  (but  few  are  to  be 
found  in  Persia)  are  scrupulously  exact  in  their  in- 
junctions concerning  purity,  and  though  unfortunately 
not  as  a rule  deeply  versed  in  the  spirit  of  their  noble 
ancient  faith,  they  are  noted,  wherever  known,  for  ex- 
treme cleanliness  of  mind  and  person.  They  consider 
outward  as  well  as  inward  purity  the  one  grand  essen- 
tial of  religion.  As  they  consider  all  the  elements 
sacred,  they  will  not  burj^'  or  burn  the  bodies  of  their 
dead,  but  expose  them  to  birds  of  prey  after  they  have 
deposited  them  in  high  towers  of  silence,'"^  While  at 
first  mention  this  practice  may  repel  many  who  think 
lovingly  of  cemeteries,  and  may  not  quite  accord  with 
the  wishes  of  those  who  favor  crematories,  still  there  is 
nothing  whatever  repulsive  in  the  thought  when  one 
becomes  accustomed  to  it,  and  a Parsee  funeral  is  so 
conducted  that  the  most  reverential  and  fastidious  can 
be  offended  at  nothing  in  the  ceremony. 

Differing  in  some  respects  widely  from  the  Parsees, 
the  Greeks  first  and  then  the  Romans,  in  their  elabo- 
rate system  of  polytheism,  which,  however,  always  ran 
parallel  with  pantheism,  sought  to  behold  in  every 
object  the  divine  life  manifest.  No  Oriental  religion 
was  ever  quite  without  its  polytheistic  and  pantheistic 
elements ; but  the  two  united  in  the  highest  Greek 
philosophy  and  art,  and  it  was  at  Athens,  rather  than 
anywhere  else,  that  the  highest  conception  of  the  divine 
manifestation  was  grasped  in  a perfect  presentation  of 


LECTURE  XIII. 


263 


beauty.  Beauty,  perfection  of  form,  a complete  ulti- 
mation  of  the  divine  loveliness,  — this  was  the  Greek 
ideal,  and  those  who  can  see  to  any  depth  below  the 
letter  of  the  classics,  know  that  classic  lore  is  a rich, 
deep  mine  of  the  purest  golden  ore.  Beauty  is  divine  ; 
divinity  must  ever  be  beautiful : we  turn  with  a sigh 
of  discontent  amounting  to  repugnance  from  all  exhibi- 
tions of  extreme  asceticism  to  the  matchless  beauty 
of  Greek  Theosophy.  There  we  find  the  one  infinite 
life  displayed  before  our  enamoured  vision  in  a million 
different  forms  of  grace  and  beauty.  Polytheism  is  the 
multiple  manifestation  of  pantheism,  which  is  the  ac- 
knowledgment of  the  one  indivisible  immanent  life. 
If  Greece,  and  then  Rome,  through  abominable  sen- 
sualism, defaulted  the  exquisite  models  of  the  original 
Theosophy,  primitive  Christianity  spiritualized  them 
once  more,  and  they  live  in  true  Christianity  to-day, 
though  most  unfortunately  popular  Christianity  has 
denied  the  spirit  of  the  classics,  as  it  has  thrown  a 
veil  over  its  own  spiritual  scriptures,  too  often,  alas, 
perverted  to  most  unworthy  ends. 

Pythagoras,  who  flourished  in  Greece  about  the  time 
of  Gautama  in  India  and  Confucius  in  China,  was  one  of 
the  greatest  teachers  whose  imprint  has  been  traced  on 
the  pages  of  history.  His  philosophy  was  pure  Monism^ 
and  yet  in  his  elaborate  system  of  numerals  he  allowed 
for  an  infinity  of  expressions  of  the  one  life.  He  was 
thus  both  pantheist  (believer  in  the  divine  immanence) 
and  polytheist  (one  who  recognized  the  measureless 
variety  of  the  divine  manifestations).  He  it  was  who 
taught  his  scholars  that  all  numbers  might  be  lost,  but 


264 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


the  number  one  must  remain  eternally,  for  one  is  at 
once  the  greatest  and  the  least,  the  All  and  the  Atom. 
Socrates,  who  lived  a century  later,  was  the  great 
Athenian  publicist,  the  one  who  gathered  a vast  con- 
course of  people  in  the  open  thoroughfares,  and  edu- 
cated all  who  came  to  him  outside  the  academic  halls. 
He  taught  nothing  but  what  all  the  learned  agreed  to. 
His  offense  consisted  in  speaking  unvarnished  truth  to 
the  common  throng.  Monopolists  hated  him,  and  had 
him  put  to  death;  but  the  spirit  of  his  teachings  re- 
mained in  his  favorite  pupil  and  brilliant  successor, 
Plato,  who  was  more  politic  than  his  master,  and  thus 
escaped  martyrdom.  Socrates  was  the  speaker,  Plato, 
the  scribe  of  Athens,  at  a time  when  error  was  coating 
over  the  beautiful  Greek  Theosophy  which  the  Apostle 
Paul  proclaimed  in  his  magnificent  oration  to  the  Athe- 
nians on  Mars-Hill. 

As  we  shall  attempt  to  show  in  succeeding  essays, 
primitive  Christianity  was  a further  development  of 
much  that  had  preceded  it  from  Greece  and  Rome. 
Christianity  received  multitudes  of  converts,  and  to 
accommodate  their  peculiar  needs,  Paul  at  least  thought 
it  desirable  to  be  “ all  things  to  all  men,”  an  expression 
which  the  malicious  can  easily  twist  into  a confession 
of  insincerity.  The  right-minded  man  or  woman  sees 
it,  however,  in  a totally  different  light,  and  can  easily 
perceive  that  the  chief  fault  of  later  missions  has  been 
that  missionaries  have  treated  all  religions  as  hopelessly 
false,  with  the  exception  of  their  own,  which  they  have 
proclaimed  entirely  true.  Such  an  attitude  is  as  igno- 
rant as  it  is  unkind,  and  brings  upon  its  advocates  the 


LECTURE  XIII. 


265 


hatred  and  scorn  of  those  they  might  otherwise  en- 
lighten and  bless.  We  are  very  sorry  to  see  so  many 
intelligent  men  turning  away  from  religion  because  of 
the  utterly  stupid  manner  in  which  the  subject  has  been 
broached  to  them. 

Workingmen  in  the  first  century  were  the  mainstay 
of  the  spiritual  and  socialistic  movement,  which  after  a 
while  took  the  name  of  Christianity,  and  soon  after  the 
adoption  of  that  term  seemingly  began  to  degenerate. 
Early  Christianity  was  a progressive  eclecticism,  and  its 
endeavor  was  to  unite  the  world.  Rome  and  Greece 
were  its  cradles,  and  from  Egypt  and  Persia  it  gathered 
the  accumulated  wisdom  of  many  centuries.  Greek 
Theosophy  lives  in  the  fourth  Gospel,  where  the  Logos^ 
or  divine  word  — the  expressed  divinity  — is  spoken  of 
as  perfectly  embodied  in  an  ideal  human  form,  but  by 
no  means  confined  to  any  personality,  as  it  is  the  uni- 
versal light  and  world-wide  enlightener.  Theosophy 
alone  can  explain  the  Scriptures,  revive  pure  religion, 
and  unite  the  world : thus  in  India  it  invites  the  natives 
to  return  to  the  essentials  of  Hinduism;  in  Persia  it 
urges  the  people  to  return  to  the  old-time  wisdom- 
religion  of  their  forefathers  ; and  in  Christendom  it 
invites  the  masses  to  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel,  and  pre- 
pares an  additional  banquet  for  collegians,  by  unfolding 
to  them  the  spirit  of  the  classics.  Study  mythologic 
lore  with  new  eyes : let  Plato  speak  to  you  afresh,  as 
you  no  longer  regard  him  as  a pagan ; and  the  classics  as 
well  as  the  Bible,  and  the  poets  as  well  as  the  prophets, 
will  all  teach  you  the  one  great  truth,  that  we  are  all 
brothers,  and  remove  from  your  minds  forever  the  hate- 


266 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


ful  thought  of  a capricious  deity  and  a restricted 
revelation.  Listen  to  the  philosophers  and  poets  of 
Greece  and  Rome  as  to  the  sages  of  the  Orient,  with 
ears  no  longer  dull  of  hearing,  and  you  will  see  for 
3^ourselves  that  there  is  but  one  religion,  spoken  in 
many  tongues. 

Dr.  F.  L.  H.  Willis,  a gifted  and  learned  scribe, 
says,  in  an  article  which  recently  appeared  in  the 
Banner  of  Light:  — 

It  was  in  the  sacred  seclusion  of  her  own  room  that  the  conse- 
crated Greek  or  Homan  maiden  sought  in  faith  and  prayer  to 
reveal  the  will  of  heaven.  Although  she  called  her  Heavenly 
Father  by  the  name  of  Jove  or  Jupiter,  yet  with  an  ardent  heart 
she  clung  to  the  sacred  life  that  united  her  to  the  spiritual  realm, 
and  with  trusting  faith  called  down  the  gifts  of  heaven  to  her 
mortal  consciousness. 

All  the  ancient  Latin  and  Greek  poets  present  to  us  the  beauty 
and  power  of  this  faith  in  divine  things.  History  is  full  of  facts 
that  testify  of  the  truthfulness  of  this  sacred  gift  of  the  past,  and 
although  the  veil  of  ignorance  shrouds  much  of  the  beauty,  yet 
there  gleams  forth  a supernal  light  to  show  us  how  near  to  earth 
was  heaven,  even  in  the  days  of  idolatrous  Greece  and  Rome. 

Cassandra,  who,  like  many  mediums  of  to-day,  had  to  bear  the 
imputation  of  insanity,  was  one  of  the  great  prophets  of  the  Trojan 
nation.  She  was  princess  of  Troy,  but  was  subject  to  the  divine 
impressions.  It  was  said  that  her  ears  were  unstopped  so  that  she 
could  hear  spiritual  voices,  and  her  prophecies  were  literally  ful- 
filled. The  destruction  of  Troy  and  her  own  death  she  repeatedly 
foretold.  Her  prophecies  proved  not  to  be  warnings.  They  were 
unheeded  by  her  nation,  and  it  had  to  learn  wisdom  through  sad 
experiences. 

The  Roman  Emperor  Julian  declared  that  he  had  familiar  com- 
munications with  divine  beings.  He  says  they  awoke  him  from 
sleep  by  touching  his  hand  or  hair,  and  that  he  knew  them  so 


LECTURE  XIII. 


267 


well  that  he  could  instantly  distinguish  their  voices  and  their 
forms. 

Pausanias,  the  Roman  historian,  says  that  in  the  temple  of 
iEsculapius  at  Epidaurus,  a pillar  was  erected  in  memory  of  Hyp- 
politus,  who  had  been  raised  from  the  dead,  and  Strabo  says  the 
temples  were  full  of  the  records  of  such  miracles  as  healing  the 
sick,  raising  the  dead,  making  the  blind  to  see,  the  deaf  to  hear, 
the  lame  to  walk,  etc. 

Enlightened  minds  of  Greece  and  Rome  did  not  worship  the 
many  gods,  but  only  one  Supreme  Spirit,  considering  the  minor 
deities  as  only  impersonations  of  the  attributes  of  the  one  great 
Deity.  With  this  view  we  can  readily  see  how  the  beauty  of  the 
universe  could  call  forth  reverence,  and  the  strength  and  wisdom 
thereof  excite  adoration.  Thus  also  we  learn  how  definite  and 
clear  to  these  old  Greeks  and  Romans  must  have  been  these  ideas 
of  spiritual  visions  and  realities,  for  notwithstanding  they  often 
said  the  gods  gave  the  visions,  they  must  have  considered  all  spir- 
itual appearances  as  coming  through  individual  intelligence  in  the 
spirit-world. 

Socrates,  one  of.  the  greatest  philosophers  of  any  age,  had 
implicit  faith  in  spiritual  presence  and  power.  His  demon  or 
genius  was  his  constant  adviser.  He  listened  to  its  voice  rever- 
ently, and  its  promptings  were  his  inspiration.  He  believed  that 
every  one  had  a heavenly  guardian,  who  constantly  attended  him 
until  death,  when  it  returned  to  a higher  and  diviner  life.  It  is 
related  of  him  in  Grote’s  History  of  Greece  that  when  he  was 
accompanying  the  army  of  Xenophon  he  became  entranced,  and 
so  great  was  his  absorption  that  he  took  no  notice  of  anything 
transpiring  around  him.  It  was  under  the  scorching  sun,  and  he 
was  standing ; but  he  remained  motionless  while  the  whole  army 
passed  by,  and  all  efforts  to  arouse  him  were  in  vain.  After  he 
came  out  of  this  condition  he  said  he  had  been  talking  with  a spirit. 

Xenophon  in  his  Apology  says  : “ I call  this  voice  of  Socrates 
the  divine,  or  spiritual  influence.’'  Socrates  himself  says  of  it: 
“ One  day  when  I was  about  to  cross  the  river,  I saw  the  usual 
spiritual  sign  which  prohibits  me  from  doing  anything.  I seemed 
to  hear  a voice  also.” 


268 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


Our  modern  wise  men  have  been  greatly  puzzled  by  the  avowal 
of  this  faith,  in  so  great  and  wise  a man  as  Socrates.  Some  have 
said  it  was  the  voice  of  conscience,  others  that  it  was  imagina- 
tion ; but  his  own  testimony  and  that  of  Xenophon  is.  It  was  a 
spirit 

Plato  had  a similar  faith,  though  perhaps  more  clearly  defined 
than  that  of  Socrates.  He  says  of  spirits  : — 

‘‘  Their  office  is  to  go  between  gods  and  men ; to  convey  and  in- 
terpret to  the  gods  the  prayers  and  offerings  of  men,  and  bring  to 
men  the  commands  of  the  gods.  Deity  can  have  no  immediate 
intercourse  with  men.  All  communication  between  gods  and 
mortals  is  carried  on  by  means  of  spirits,  both  in  sleeping  and 
waking.” 

In  another  place  he  says : — 

‘‘  They  are  clothed  with  air,  wander  through  heaven,  hover  over 
the  stars  and  abide  on  the  earth.  They  behold  unveiled  the  secrets 
of  time  to  come,  and  regulate  events  according  to  their  pleasure.” 

He  too  believed  that  every  human  spirit  received  at  birth  a 
guardian  spirit,  who  accompanied  him  to  the  end,  and  witnessed 
all  his  thoughts  and  actions. 

In  Plato's  “ Ion  ” there  is  a remarkable  dialogue  which  we  have 
space  to  but  briefly  mention.  Ion  asks  Socrates  why  it  is  that 
when  he  is  reciting  the  poems  of  Homer,  he  should  do  it  with  a 
power  that  deserted  him  with  respect  to  all  other  poets.  Socrates, 
in  reply,  proceeds  to  unfold  the  most  wonderful  and  beautiful  the- 
ory of  divine  inspiration,  and  closes  with  these  words : — 

“You,  O Ion,  are  influenced  by  Homer.  If  you  recite  the 
works  of  any  other  poet,  you  get  drow^sy,  and  are  at  a loss  what  to 
say ; but  when  you  hear  any  of  the  compositions  of  that  poet  you 
are  roused ; your  thoughts  are  excited,  and  you  grow  eloquent ; for 
what  you  say  of  Homer  is  not  derived  from  any  art  or  knowledge, 
but  from  divine  inspiration  and  possession.  As  the  Corybantes 
feel  acutely  the  melodies  of  him  by  whom  they  are  inspired,  and 
abound  with  verse  and  gesture  for  his  songs  alone,  and  care  for  no 
other,  thus  you,  O Ion,  are  eloquent  when  you  expound  Homer, 
and  are  barren  of  words  with  regard  to  every  other  poet.  And 
this  explains  the  question  you  asked  wherefore  Homer  and  no 


LECTURE  XTII. 


269 


other  poet  inspires  you  with  eloquence  ? It  is  because  you  are  thus 
excellent  in  your  recitations  not  through  science,  but  from  divine 
inspiration.” 

Pythagoras  professed  to  communicate  directly  with  spiritual  be- 
ings through  visions.  Aristotle  furnishes  us  with  an  elaborate  and 
remarkably  strong  theory  of  dreams  as  inspired  by  spiritual  beings. 

Apollonius  of  Tyana,  a follower  of  Pythagoras,  cured  diseases 
and  predicted  future  events.  ‘‘Do  you  imagine,”  says  he,  “that 
spirits  are  anything  else  but  souls?  It  is  not  strange  that  souls 
should  come  to  souls,  and  impart  knowledge  either  by  a touch  or 
a glance.” 

In  this  manner  we  might  go  through  the  whole  list  of  Grecian 
and  Roman  poets,  philosophers,  and  wise  men,  giving  their  faith 
and  their  declarations,  but  we  have  brought  from  these  two  nations 
sufficient  evidence  for  our  purpose.  They  all  harmonize,  and  all 
are  clear  and  definite  on  this  faith  in  spirit-communion.  It  was  at 
the  foundation  of  all  their  religious  belief,  and  it  was  the  inspira- 
tion of  their  religious  fervor.  All  the  poetry  and  the  imagination 
of  Greece  in  the  days  of  her  intellectual  grandeur  rested  on  this 
basis  of  belief  in  Spiritualism,  and  from  out  the  half-clouded  radi- 
ance we  find  fact  and  theory,  and  the  divine  power  of  God  in  man. 

As  we  thus  lift  the  curtain  of  the  past,  and  bring  back  its  history, 
the  record  of  its  thought  and  feeling,  how  full  of  beauty  is  the 
diviner  part  of  man’s  nature.  In  spite  of  all  its  weakness  and 
folly,  its  ignorance  and  sin,  it  has  blossomed  forth  into  individual- 
ized characters  of  great  beauty  and  perfection,  and  in  revelations 
of  wonderful  truth  and  spirituality.  Should  we  not  become  more 
humble  and  less  arrogant  as  we  learn  thus  of  the  revelations  of 
divine  truth  given  to  all  men  in  all  ages  ? Should  we  not  become 
more  thankful  as  we  learn  of  the  certainty  of  inspiration  in  all 
times,. more  studious  as  we  learn  of  the  laws  that  govern  the  spir- 
itual condition,  and  more  hopeful  as  we  learn  of  the  power  of 
beautiful  facts  and  phenomena  over  philosophy  and  religion  ? 

While  the  golden  hue  of  the  intellectual  days  of  Athens  and  of 
Rome  has  dazzled  the  students  of  our  colleges  and  schools,  let  us 
see  in  it  the  simplicity  and  beauty  of  divine  inspiration,  and  thus 
we  can  bring  the  great  representatives  of  the  past,  Pythagoras, 


270 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


Plato,  and  Socrates,  into  the  list  of  those  of  our  own  faith,  and 
feel  the  friendly  influence  of  their  lives  reaching  even  our  own  age 
and  time. 

Thus  have  Greece  and  Rome  borne  their  testimony,  and  added 
glowing  links  to  the  chain  of  evidence  that  brightens  as  it  winds 
down  through  the  centuries. 


LECTURE  XIV. 


CHINESE  THEOSOPHY.  — CONFUCIANISM. 

An  article  in  the  August,  1887,  number  of  the  North 
American  Review  entitled,  ‘‘Why  am  I a Heathen?” 
from  the  pen  of  an  educated  Chinaman,  Wong  Chin 
Foo,  has  been  read  and  commented  upon  by  perhaps 
millions  of  people  all  over  the  United  States,  and  its 
circulation  has  been  by  no  means  confined  to  America. 
The  article  itself,  though  deeply  interesting,  is  by  no 
means  remarkable  from  a literary  point  of  view.  The 
writer  evinces  no  profound  acquaintance  with  his  sub- 
ject ; his  reasons  for  remaining  a “ heathen  ” are  quite 
commonplace ; they  are,  nevertheless,  of  such  a char- 
acter as  to  deeply  impress  the  average  reader,  and 
without  discussing  the  actual  literary  merits  of  this 
singular  effusion,  we  cannot  restrain  an  expression  of 
gratitude  to  the  writer  for  the  very  concise  and  definite 
manner  in  which  he  has  stated  his  reasons  for  uphold- 
ing Confucianism  and  objecting  to  become  a Christian. 
It  may  possibly  be  a surprise  to  some  people  to  be  told 
that  Chinamen,  as  a class,  are  neither  atheists  nor  idol- 
aters, but  believers  in  one  Infinite  God,  in  the  immor- 
tality of  the  human  soul,  and  in  future  rewards  and 
punishments  proportioned  to  the  merits  of  all  who  re- 
ceive them.  To  the  unenlightened  and  untravelled 


272 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


American  or  European  the  Chinaman  is  an  idolater, 
paying  homage  to  some  grotesque  and  miserable  fetish 
to  be  witnessed  in  a Joss  house,  and  certainly  the  aspect 
of  Chinatown  and  the  Chinese  in  California  is  not  always 
likely  to  dispel  this  illusion ; but  then,  what  can  be  said 
of  the  illiterate  Roman  Catholic  peasantry  of  Europe, 
and  their  forms  of  devotion  — of  the  adoration  paid  to 
wayside  crosses  and  images  of  saints  often  appearing 
like  children’s  tawdry  dolls  ? The  priests  do  not  incul- 
cate idolatry,  and  the  most  ignorant  Romanist  would 
indignantly  repel  the  charge  of  idolatry  if  brought 
against  him ; but  appearances,  all  must  confess,  foster 
rather  than  dispel  the  opinion  of  the  uninstructed 
stranger.  The  Chinese  religion  sanctions  idolatry  no 
more  than  does  the  Christian.  Confucius  worshiped 
idols  no  more  than  Jesus;  and  though  his  day  was  five 
or  six  centuries  earlier  than  that  of  Jesus,  his  teachings 
were  in  many  instances  identical  in  spirit  with  those  of 
the  great  Galilean  master.  It  may  be  interesting  before 
proceeding  further,  to  briefly  review  the  life  and  teach- 
ings of  Confucius  and  contrast  them  with  those  of 
Jesus. 

The  time  when  Confucius  was  born  was  one  of  those 
marked  eras  in  the  history  of  nations  which  invariabl}^ 
produce  great  and  gifted  men.  The  Jews  were  just  re- 
turning to  Palestine  after  the  Babylonish  captivity ; 
the  Greeks  were  triumphing  over  Xerxes,  the  Persian ; 
thus  the  world  was  in  a state  of  peculiar  readiness  for 
some  great  intellectual  and  moral  luminary  who  should 
enforce  the  essential  truths  of  all  religions,  and  so  put 
forward  the  fundamental  principles  of  morality,  that 


LECTURE  Xiy. 


273 


government  and  the  social  order  might  be  reconstructed 
on  a higher  base  than  previously. 

It  is  singular  that  one  so  highly  gifted  and  so  emi- 
nently successful  as  Confucius  should  have  given  way 
to  melancholy  in  his  later  years,  and  pronounced  his 
mission  a failure  ; but  great  souls  are  exceedingly  sen- 
sitive, and  their  ideals  so  immeasurably  higher  than 
those  of  the  populace  around  them,  that  what  would 
be  termed  triumph  by  the  majority  seems  almost  defeat 
to  them,  and  we  may  pertinently  ask  if  ever  during  the 
physical  lifetime  of  a seer  or  sage,  he  wins  that  glorious 
victory  over  prejudice  and  wrong  which  is  his  ulti- 
mately in  unlimited  degree  ? The  temperament  of 
Confucius  was  scholarly  and  sedate,  yet  there  burned 
within  him  the  most  ardent  and  enthusiastic  ambitions, 
not  for  his  own  aggrandizement,  but  for  the  elevation  of 
his  nation,  and  indeed  the  whole  human  family.  It  is 
well  to  note  the  precocity  of  many  great  heroes  and 
heroines  of  history.  Their  boyhood  or  girlhood  has  usu- 
ally been  marked  by  some  special  streaks  of  brilliancy, 
and  he  whose  career  we  are  now  considering  was  no  ex- 
ception to  this  rule ; indeed  he  was  one  of  its  most 
forcible  illustrations.  At  seventeen  his  biographers  tell 
us  he  held  the  high  office  of  inspector  of  grain,  a posi- 
tion of  trust  and  responsibility,  and  we  are  assured  by 
Wong  Chin  Foo,  in  his  article  in  the  North  American 
Review^  that  in  conservative  China  offices  are  held  only 
by  those  whose  competency  has  led  to  their  election  or 
appointment ; so  we  may  feel  sure  Confucius  must  have 
been  a singularly  bright  and  capable  boy  to  be  promoted 
to  such  a station  while  so  young  in  years.  This  ap- 


274 


STUDIES  IK  THEOSOPHY. 


pointment  gave  him  the  very  opportunity  he  needed  to 
show  of  what  pure  metal  he  was  made.  So  conscien- 
tious and  just  was  he  in  his  every  transaction  that  he 
won  one  of  the  highest  marks  of  distinction  a rising 
young  man  of  business  can  possibly  obtain.  He  was 
feared  and  detested  by  usurers,  cheats,  and  merciless 
monopolists ; he  could  neither  be  bought  nor  sold ; in- 
tegrity was  the  polar  star  of  his  life ; honesty  the  only 
air  in  which  he  could  breathe  without  suffocation.  At 
nineteen,  at  which  age  he  married,  he  enjoyed  promo- 
tion to  a much  higher  office,  that  of  inspector-general 
of  fields  and  herds,  and  in  that  superior  place  he  con- 
tinued to  show  in  a marked  degree  those  traits  of  manly 
excellence  which  had  shone  so  conspicuously  in  him 
while  he  adorned  a lower  sphere.  We  may  here  take 
notice  of  the  thoroughness  with  which  a really  great 
man  does  everything  he  essays  to  do  at  all.  A great 
man’s  motto  invariably  is,  Whatever  is  worth  doing 
at  all,  is  worth  doing  well  ” ; or  he  translates  the  Chris- 
tian maxim,  Whatsoever  your  hands  find  to  do,  that 
do  with  all  your  might”  into  daily  and  hourly  practice. 
All  over  the  land,  under  the  guidance  of  Confucius, 
agriculture  was  so  improved  that  waste  lands  were  ren^ 
dered  fertile,  and  the  necessaries  of  life  were  everywhere 
cheapened  and  improved.  Such  faithful  service  to  his 
country  was  not  allowed  to  pass  unnoticed;  his  fame 
increased,  his  reputation  spread,  till  even  at  court  his 
name  was  mentioned  with  respect  and  admiration. 

His  mother,  whom  he  loved  devotedly,  and  for  whom 
he  entertained  a feeling  akin  to  worship,  passed  from 
her  mortal  form  while  her  beloved  son  was  still  a very 


LECTURE  XIV. 


276 


young  man.  Contrary  to  many  despicable  Eastern 
customs,  which  exemplify  the  degrading  theory  of 
woman’s  inferiority  to  man,  Confucius  so  ordered  the 
conduct  of  his  mother’s  burial  that  no  honor  shown  to 
his  father’s  remains  might  be  omitted  at  the  interment 
of  his  mother.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  previous 
rites  of  burial  among  the  Chinese,  since  his  day  it  has 
been  the  unfailing  custom  in  China  to  show  equal  re- 
spect to  male  and  female  departed.  The  words  of  Con- 
fucius on  this  subject  are  quoted  as  a maxini,  Those 
whom  we  have  alike  loved  in  life  should  not  be  sepa- 
rated in  our  respect  in  death.”  After  his  mother’s 
passage  to  the  unseen  state,  Confucius  spent  three 
whole  years  in  retirement ; giving  up  his  public  work 
and  resigning  his  emoluments,  he  spent  three  of  the 
best  years  of  his  life,  from  twenty-four  to  twenty-seven, 
in  the  study  of  truth,  meditating  on  questions  of  im- 
mortal import  to  mankind.  That  very  grief,  which  to 
him  partook  of  the  form  of  the  sorest  bereavement  im- 
aginable, opened  his  eyes  to  the  Great  Unseen;  a busi- 
ness career  no  longer  held  any  charms  for  him;  the 
commonplaces  of  material  existence  seemed  to  him  as 
nothing  in  comparison  with  those  great  questions  of 
life  and  death  which  make  the  thoughtful  man  forget 
time  and  space  as  he  strives  to  realize  the  stupendous 
facts  of  infinity  and  eternity.  In  the  freshness  of  his 
bereavement  his  meditations  were  of  a somber  cast ; it 
was  only  with  great  difficulty  he  could  lay  hold  on  the 
truth  of  immortality.  Reared  as  he  was  in  ancestor 
worship,  he  could  but  feel  the  influence  of  the  spiritu- 
alistic ideas  with  which  the  mental  air  he  breathed  was 


276 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


fully  charged ; still  a vague  unrest  possessed  him,  and 
while  he  retained  implicit  faith  and  reposed  his  entire 
confidence  in  Deity,  whom  he  called  the  Principle  of 
Life,  there  was  a vein  of  pessimism  in  his  philosophy 
which  tended  to  sadden  its  founder,  and  in  after  years 
to  enervate  his  followers. 

It  may  be  instructive  as  well  as  interesting  to  inquire 
somewhat  closely  into  the  Confucian  idea  of  God,  which 
is  without  doubt  a very  exalted  one,  though  possibly, 
in  the  eyes  of  some,  slightly  pantheistic.  In  a conver- 
sation said  to  have  taken  place  between  Confucius  and 
one  of  the  princes  of  his  country  later  in  his  life  he  ex- 
presses himself  thus:  ‘^Chang-Ty  (the  Chinese  term 
for  the  Supreme  Spirit)  is  the  universal  Principle  of 
Life  — the  faithful  source  whence  all  things  have  pro- 
ceeded. To  show  gratitude  to  heaven  is  man’s  first 
duty ; to  show  gratitude  to  ancestors  his  second.”  He 
explained  how,  after  having  rendered  thanks  to  the 
Universal  Spirit  from  whom  all  things  flow,  our  hearts 
naturally  turn  lovingly  to  those  departed  worthies  and 
beloved  teachers  and  friends  through  whose  instrumen- 
tality our  minds  have  been  directed  toward  the  Supreme 
and  our  feet  turned  into  the  path  of  obedience  to  divine 
commandments.  Duty  to  God  can  never  be  separated 
from  duty  to  man;  gratitude  to  God  is  inseparable 
from  gratitude  to  man ; we  never  find  a great  and  good 
man  or  woman  in  all  the  annals  of  history  who  is  not 
noted  for  filial  devotion  and  respect  shown  to  the  great 
and  good  who  have  gone  before. 

A feature  of  the  doctrine  of  Confucius,  which  may 
seem  to  some  to  condone  the  vice  of  idolatry,  is  very 


LECTURE  XIV. 


277 


easily  explained  if  we  can  comprehend  the  exceeding 
subtlety  of  his  intellect  and  his  deep  spiritual  conscious- 
ness of  the  omnipresence  of  the  Infinite  Being.  He 
never  discountenanced  the  symbolic  rites  and  practices 
of  his  countrymen  ; on  the  other  hand,  he  gave  them 
the  sanction  of  his  approval,  justifying  them  in  words 
like  the  following : Under  whatever  title  man  renders 
worship ; whoever  may  be  the  apparent  object  of  it,  and 
of  whatever  nature  may  be  the  apparent  ceremonies,  it 
is  always  to  Chang-Ty  that  one  renders  it,  and  it  is 
Chang-Ty  who  is  the  object  of  veneration.” 

In  reading  O.  B.  Frothingham’s  Life  of  Theodore 
Parker  ” we  meet  with  passages  in  that  great  preacher’s 
sayings  when  in  conversation  with  Italian  Catholic 
priests,  strongly  reminding  us  of  the  above  quotation 
from  Confucius.  When  Parker  witnessed  the  devo- 
tions of  the  people  at  the  shrines  of  their  patron  saints 
and  listened  to  their  intercessions,  he  calmly  remarked 
that  God  probably  cared  little  or  nothing  for  the  lan- 
guage in  which  petitions  were  couched,  but  everything 
for  the  state  of  mind  and  heart  which  led  to  prayers 
being  offered  at  all.  On  one  occasion  he  boldly  said  he 
did  not  think  God  would  be  offended  if  an  honest  though 
ignorant  child  should  call  the  Eternal  Parent  St.  Cecilia. 
The  Roman  Catholic  priest  to  whom  he  made  the  re- 
mark was  shocked,  and  said  such  views  supported  idol- 
atry. How  singular  it  seems  that  the  very  persons  who 
are  most  addicted  to  seemingly  idolatrous  practices  are 
the  very  ones  who  can  see  the  least  deeply  into  the 
spiritual  truth  they  enshrine  and  hide.  Probably  this 
is  due  to  the  fact  that  those  alone  are  highly  gifted 


278 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


with  spiritual  discernment  who  have  outlived  the  mental 
condition  for  which  such  forms  constitute  needed  pabu- 
lum. Confucius,  twenty-four  centuries  before  Parker, 
was  as  uncompromising  and  devout  a theist  as  he,  and 
the  very  comprehensiveness  of  his  pure  theism  enabled 
him  to  find  the  true  God  everywhere,  in  everybody  and 
everything,  and  thus  make  excuses  for  all  imperfection, 
though  crime  was  hateful  in  his  sight,  and  vice  a target 
at  which  he  directed  his  sharpest  and  surest  arrows. 

In  many  respects  Confucius  might  be  called  a relig- 
ious Rationalist ; natural  instead  of  supernatural  relig- 
ion won  his  confidence ; his  mind  was  too  large,  his 
sympathies  too  universal  to  permit  of  his  taking  that 
contracted  view  of  revelation  so  prevalent  among  ortho- 
dox Christians.  His  whole  system  being  founded  on  a 
recognition  of  universal  justice  and  impartiality,  he 
could  not  escape  the  conclusion  that  all  the  nations  gf 
earth,  and  all  men  individually,  are  accepted  of  God  in 
proportion  to  their  uprightness. 

Wong  Chin  Foo  truly  says,  the  Calvinistic  idea  of 
predestination,  with  its  awful  doctrine  of  election  for 
some  and  reprobation  for  others,  has  no  place  in  the 
Confucian  philosophy.  It  must  be  carefully  borne  in 
mind  that  Confucius  stands  before  the  world  as  a phi- 
losopher rather  than  as  a theologian.  He  never  en- 
deavored to  form  a religious  sect ; his  whole  aim  and 
ambition  was  to  save  the  state ; and  knowing,  as  all 
wise  statesmen  must,  that  a nation’s  security  depends 
on  its  morality,  he  rendered  sacred  all  secular  ideas  and 
duties,  carrying  practical  religion  into  daily  life  and 
commercial  enterprise,  instead  of  allowing  it  to  be  re- 


LECTURE  Xiy. 


279 


garded  as  a thing  apart,  to  be  brought  into  requisition 
one  hour  a day,  or  one  day  a week,  while  all  the  rest  of 
the  time  can  be  devoted  to  purely  material  endeavors. 

Religion,  rightly  defined,  is  the  science  of  righteous 
living ; and  as  rectitude  is  as  necessary  in  the  holder  of 
a civil  as  an  ecclesiastical  office,  a true  philosophy  must 
needs  be  theological  (as  was  that  of  Plato),  if  theology 
be  defined,  as  it  is  by  able  etymologists,  to  mean  first 
and  last  the  knowledge  of  divine  truth.  As  all  relig- 
ious concepts  have  a more  or  less  direct  bearing  on  the 
affairs  of  every-day  life,  a statesman  or  man  of  business 
needs  to  be  fully  as  religious  as  one  whose  profession 
permits  him  to  style  himself  a reverend  minister  of  the 
Gospel. 

The  mind  of  Confucius  turning  as  it  did  to  moral 
philosophy,  and  the  supreme  object  of  his  life  being  the 
reduction  of  moral  theory  to  practice  as  a safeguard 
and  savior  of  the  nation,  he  early  abandoned  his  politi- 
cal and  business  career  and  devoted  his  time  and 
strength  solely  to  the  interests  of  philosophy.  Like 
many  another  hero  of  the  Old  World,  though  he  had  a 
glorious  ideal  before  him,  he  was  always  directing  his 
own  gaze  and  that  of  others  to  an  ideal  past.  History 
informed  him  of  a time  long  past  when  the  government 
was  purer  and  the  people  holier  than  in  his  day ; and 
forgetful  of  the  proverb,  ‘‘  Distance  lends  enchantment 
to  the  view,”  he  permitted  his  mind  to  revert  too  fre- 
quently to  olden  days.  This  tinged  his  thought  with 
sadness.  It  fostered  deep  regret  and  often  hindered 
the  advancement  of  the  very  cause  in  which  all  his  en- 
ergies and  sympathies  were  enlisted. 


280 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


Being  of  an  artistic  turn  of  mind,  refined  in  his  tastes 
almost  to  the  verge  of  fastidiousness,  he  would  fre- 
quently withdraw  from  all  associates  and  turn  to  music 
and  the  sister  arts  for  rest  and  recreation;  music  (of 
which  he  was  passionately  fond)  always  delighted  him. 
He  also  took  great  interest  in  literary  style  and  mat- 
ters of  etiquette,  and  of  the  use  of  arms  he  was  not 
ignorant.  His  relations  with  the  unseen  world  were 
very  intimate,  but  some  of  his  sayings  give  rise  to 
the  opinion  that  he  was  more  of  a Positivist  than  a 
Spiritualist. 

The  best  followers  of  Auguste  Comte  could  heartily 
sympathize  with  such  exclamations  as  ‘‘The  world  is 
open  to  me ; what  am  I fitted  for  ? What  is  my  place  ? 
Shall  I live  for  time  or  for  the  long  future  — for  the 
commonweal,  or  for  my  own  narrow  good?”  He  de^. 
cided  as  all  noble  souls  decide.  The  remonstrances  of 
friends,  who  told  him  he  was  throwing  himself  away  on 
philosophy  and  reformatory  projects  (difficult  if  not  im- 
possible to  realize),  weighed  nothing  with  him.  The 
most  brilliant  offers  failed  to  entice  him ; he  was  desir- 
ous of  sinking  every  personal  ambition  in  unwearied 
labor  for  the  general  good.  The  “ Ancient  Doctrine  ” 
was  his  text.  All  his  discourses  might  have  been  from 
the  text,  “ Choose  the  old  paths  and  walk  in  them,”  and 
as  eulogists  are  apt  to  overestimate  the  characters  of 
whom  they  speak,  so  Confucius  threw  a glamour  of 
glory  round  the  heads  of  the  nation’s  ancestors  and  held 
up  these  halo-crowned  worthies  as  though  they  were  in 
fact  almost  more  than  mortals. 

We  notice  a tendency  in  many  reverent  and  grateful 


LECTUKE  XIV. 


281 


minds  to  dwell  exclusively  upon  the  virtues  of  the  past, 
totally  ignoring  its  vices.  In  .biblical  exegesis  this  is 
too  frequently  the  case ; it  is  an  error  of  the  gravest 
type,  as  it  supports  pessimism  more  than  all  arguments 
combined.  The  grand  old  Hebrew  Bible  gives  us  no 
encouragement  in  this  direction,  as  it  proves  its  truthful- 
ness, and  the  wisdom  and  foresight  of  its  authors  in  no 
way  so  forcibly  as  in  the  attitude  of  impartial  criticism 
it  assumes  toward  patriarchs  and  prophets  as  well  as 
common  every-day  men  and  women.  The  patriarchs 
and  sages  are  not  represented  as  perfect  by  any  means. 
Their  vices  and  frailties,  even  their  crimes,  are  fully 
recorded,  so  we  rise  from  a diligent  perusal  of  Jewish 
Scripture,  far  more  ready  to  thank  God  for  the  happy 
times  in  which  we  live  and  for  our  manifold  blessings, 
than  to  sigh  over  a forfeited  paradise  in  which  purity 
and  wisdom  blazed  in  dazzling  brightness,  and  ruled 
with  undisputed  sway. 

Despite  this  criticism  of  the  method  and  mental  front- 
age of  Confucius,  we  can  but  give  our  unquestioning 
sanction  to  the  models  he  held  up  as  examples  to  the 
populace.  . . . The  ancients,  as  he  pictured  them, 
were  gods  rather  than  men.  Their  historical  virtues 
may  have  been  fancied,  but  as  ideals  they  were  almost 
matchless.  Supposing  they  were  in  some  instances  ro- 
mantic personages  to  some  extent  or  even  evolved  from 
' the  fertile  fancy  of  Confucius  himself,  they  were  samples 
of  the  highest  excellence,  and  in  an  exemplar  we  want 
to  see  virtue  itself  exhibited  even  though  as  in  a ro- 
^mance  lay  figures  may  be  introduced.  Still  the  Con- 
fucian  ideal  of  judicial  administration  was  not  perfect. 


282 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


Certain  of  his  maxims  we  had  better  avoid.  Those  we 
should  avoid  are  indeed  very  few  compared  with  those 
we  would  do  well  to  adopt;  but  as  he  supports  the 
theory  of  capital  punishment  as  necessary  for  traitors, 
in  order  that  social  welfare  be  preserved,  we  can  see  at 
least  one  serious  flaw  in  an  otherwise  almost  perfect 
philosophy. 

Speaking  of  office-holders  he  says,  if  they  were  in- 
efficient or  indifferent,  remove  them  at  once  ; but  if  dis- 
honest morally  or  financially,  execute  them  as  traitors. 
Here  we  find  one  of  the  greatest  blots  in  the  recommen- 
dations of  Confucius.  His  endorsement  of  capital  pun- 
ishment shows  there  is  a rotten  timber  somewhere  in 
his  platform  of  principles.  True,  the  professing  Chris- 
tian cannot  take  exception  to  this,  for  nowhere  are  exe- 
cutions more  common  than  in  avowedly  Christian  lands. 
The  Christian  church  has  always  advocated  and  sup- 
ported hanging  for  murder,  and  only  recently  we  read 
of  a horrid  sensation  in  France  over  the  guillotine  ; but 
it  must  be  distinctly  borne  in  mind  that  when  Confu- 
cians  execute  criminals  they  are  acting  in  harmony  with 
the  teachings  of  their  most  venerated  leader,  while 
Christians  are  guilty  of  a disgraceful  violation  of  the 
law  proclaimed  by  him  whom  they  profess  to  regard,  if 
they  are  orthodox,  as  incarnate  Deity,  and  if  they  are 
unorthodox  (Universalist  or  Unitarian  for  example),  as 
the  noblest  specimen  of  manhood  and  brightest  moral 
exemplar  the  world  has  ever  seen. 

Wong  Chin  Foo  when  he  invites  the  Christians  of 
America  to  come  to  Confucius  should  remember  that  if 
they  adhere  closely  to  the  precepts  of  Jesus  they  can 


LECTURE  Xiy. 


283 


gain  nothing  by  transferring  their  allegiance  to  the 
great  Chinese  philosopher;  and  if  it  be  objected  that 
Christianity  has  been  in  existence  over  eighteen  hun- 
dred years  and  has  failed  to  bless  the  world  to  any  ap- 
preciable extent,  bloody  wars  and  religious  persecutions 
having  characterized  its  advance  everywhere,  we  must 
boldly  and  fairly  meet  the  issue  by  denouncing  popular 
Christianity  as  a system  of  usurpation,  the  name  of 
Jesus  having  been  made  a cloak  wherewith  to  cover  the 
vilest  atrocities  and  the  most  disgusting  hypocrisy.  The 
religion  of  Jesus  and  nominal  Christianity  are  two  very 
different  things.  The  former  is  a simple  gospel  of  uni- 
versal charity,  the  latter  a tissue  of  creeds  and  dogmas, 
many  of  them  utterly  false  and  terribly  pernicious  in 
their  effects  upon  society.  The  gospels,  however,  afford 
no  warrant  for  such  dogmas,  all  of  which  were  derived 
from  mythology,  not  from  the  teachings  of  Jesus  or  the 
older  sayings  of  the  Hebrew  prophets.  Paul,  not  Jesus, 
was  the  founder  of  creedal  Christianity,  and  he  derived 
his  materials  largely  from  ancient  Egyptian  scriptures, 
with  which  his  letters  to  the  Corinthians  prove  his  famil- 
iarity. His  whole  argument  for  the  resurrection  is  based 
on  Egyptian  teaching  and  symbolism,  and  when  he  al- 
ludes to  certain  things  being  written  in  the  Scriptures, 
we  search  in  vain  for  them  in  the  Old  Testament,  and 
scholars  inform  us  the  gospels  were  not  then  in  exist- 
ence. The  Egyptian  origin  of  many,  though  certainly 
not  all  of  the  doctrines  and  ceremonies  of  the  prevail- 
ing Christian  Church,  can  readily  be  proved  by  refer- 
ence to  history.  Paul  was  a complex  character;  his 
was  a very  learned  mind ; as  a reasoner  his  astuteness 


284 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


was  marvelous ; but  if  the  evangelists  speak  truly,  his 
character  was  widely  different  from  that  of  Jesus.  He 
burned  to  make  proselytes,  while  Jesus  protested  against 
proselytism,  after  the  manner  of  Israelites  generally. 
Jesus  was  a consistent  but  extremely  progressive  Jew, 
who  never  attacked  the  temple  worship  or  the  syna- 
gogue as  an  institution.  His  respect  for  the  Mosaic 
law  was  unsurpassed,  though  he  took  exception  to 
many  Levitical  injunctions,  and  showed  little  counte- 
nance to  puerile  Talmudic  fables. 

If  Jesus  were  on  earth  to-day,  his  doctrines  would 
find  far  more  favor  with  progressive  Jews  than  with 
orthodox  Christians. 

Jesus,  like  Confucius,  was  a political  reformer  as 
well  as  a moralist.  He  was  by  no  means  the  miracle 
worker  ” many  people  suppose  him  to  have  been,  neither 
was  he  an  illiterate  man  as  many  suppose ; for  though 
the  secret  source  of  his  letters  ” was  a mystery  to  his 
countrymen,  he  displayed  remarkable  evidences  of  learn- 
ing on  many  occasions ; and  when  did  a man  create  as 
much  astonishment  among  the  multitudes  by  knowing 
so  much  of  letters  ” as  he  did  among  the  doctors  at 
Jerusalem  when  only  twelve  ? The  historical  element 
in  the  gospels  shows  us  Jesus  as  a very  lovely  char- 
acter. Ernest  Renan  has  eulogized  him  none  too 
highly,  though  we  think  Renan’s  criticisms  a little  too 
sentimental.  We  can  detect  fully  as  much  power  as 
sweetness  in  the  character  of  Jesus.  The  phrase, 
‘Hovely  Galilean  vision,”  does  not  touch  all  sides  of 
his  character  by  any  means,  for  he  was  one  of  the 
most  rigid  moralists  the  world  has  ever  seen ; even 


LECTUEE  XIV. 


285 


Isaiah  was  never  more  severe  in  his  denunciation  of 
injustice  than  was  Jesus;  but  with  all  his  bold  denun- 
ciation of  error  he  preached  love  as  the  only  savior  of 
sinners.  Once  in  a while  he  could  dilate  grandly  on 
the  terrible  retribution  awaiting  the  ungodly,  but  love 
was  the  key-note  of  all  his  sermons.  Love  with  him 
was  alpha  and  omega,  and  it  is  only  in  the  thirteenth 
chapter  of  St.  Paul’s  first  epistle  to  the  Corinthians, 
that  that  great  apostle  thoroughly  presents  the  religion 
of  Jesus  in  its  native  simplicity.  James  and  John 
both  interpreted  Jesus  better  than  Paul  on  the  whole, 
though  they  may  not  have  been  Paul’s  equals  in 
scholarship. 

Luther  was  blind  indeed  when  he  became  so  carried 
away  with  Paul’s  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith  as  to 
reject  the  epistle  of  James,  calling  it  an  epistle  of  straw 
when  it  is  really  one  of  the  finest,  if  not  the  very  finest 
of  all  the  epistles.  Had  Luther  looked  more  deeply 
into  the  true  nature  of  faith  he  would  have  seen  that 
James  was  the  most  lynx-eyed  of  all  the  apostles,  for 
his  interpretation  of  faith  chimes  in  exactly  with  the 
doctrine  of  Jesus,  and  is  most  true  etymologically  to 
the  sources  whence  faith  (Latin  jides^  which  gives  us 
the  English  word  fidelity')  is  derived.  We  cannot  con- 
trast the  doctrine  of  Jesus  concerning  faith  with  that 
of  Confucius,  for  the  two  are  one.  Confucius  extols 
rectitude ; Jesus,  faithfulness  : and  here  if  we  have  a 
distinction  at  all,  it  is  without  a difference,  and  there- 
fore none  in  reality.  What  our  Chinese  friend  Wong 
Chin  Foo  objects  to,  is  the  very  thing  we  are  never 
tired  of  attacking,  and  which  we  are  frequently  com- 


286 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


pelled  to  rebuke,  and  that  is  the  mischievous  way 
in  which  blind  belief  is  confounded  with  and  substi- 
tuted for  genuine  faith,  which  is  a virtue,  a moral 
excellence,  certainly  not  a blind  belief  in  ecclesiasti- 
cal assumptions. 

He  that  believeth  shall  be  saved,  he  that  believeth 
not  shall  be  condemned  ” (sometimes  the  harsher  word 
damned  is  used)  is  a text  which  has  led  to  the  detest- 
able inference  that  there  is  but  a single  step  from  the 
gallows  to  glory,  if  a criminal  only  repent  at  the  elev- 
enth hour;  and  by  repentance  is  meant  not  ^reforma- 
tion, but  belief  in  vicarious  atonement.  Had  that 
passage  been  always  translated  true  to  its  original  in- 
tent, our  Chinese  friend  would  have  had  no  opportunity 
to  enter  his  protest  against  the  demoralizing  doctrines 
of  popular  Christianity.  For,  had  no  liberties  been 
taken  with  the  original,  and  had  the  general  tenor  of 
“ Christ’s  ” teaching  been  taken  into  account,  the  text 
would  read,  he  who  is  faithful  (i,e,  full  of  faith  in  its  true 
sense)  shall  be  saved,  he  who  is  unfaithful  (faithless) 
shall  be  condemned.  Here  is  common  ground  between 
Jew,  Gentile,  and  undenominational  teacher  of  ethics. 
Professor  Huxley  expresses  unqualified  admiration  for 
the  simple  ethics  of  Judaism  as  expounded  by  Micah. 
Professor  Tyndal  admires  the  Decalogue  and  has  fre- 
quently advocated  the  strict  observance  of  the  eighth 
commandment  especially.  Judaism  is  the  purest  of  all 
the  world’s  great  religions,  its  professed  doctrines  con- 
stituting the  foundation  of  all  religions.  Jesus  was  no 
apostate  or  renegade  Jew;  he  may  have  been  turned 
out  of  the  synagogue,  as  many  noble  men  have  been, 


LECTURE  XIY. 


287 


when  the  synagogue  has  been  mismanaged  by  ignorant 
and  bigoted  conservatives,  as  in  the  days  of  Spinoza  in 
Germany;  but  if  we  are  to  acknowledge  Jesus  as  “a 
teacher  sent  from  God,”  especially  if  we  are  to  see  in 
him  the  greatest  teacher  who  ever  lived,  as  Christians 
claim  him  to  have  been,  we  must  revert  to  first  prin- 
ciples, and  gladly  and  contentedly  submit  to  obey  the 
moral  law  given  by  Moses  to  the  children  of  Israel, 
not  indeed  in  all  its  literal  severity  as  proclaimed 
by  uncompromising  sticklers  for  the  letter,  but  in  that 
deep  and  true  sense  in  which  it  can  be  fulfilled  in 
love. 

We  are  constantly  plied  with  questions  relative  to 
the  treatment  of  criminals : this  seems  to  indicate  either 
that  crime  is  on  the  increase,  and  therefore  the  popular 
mind  is  unusually  exercised  concerning  it;  or  that  a 
wave  of  merciful  feeling  is  sweeping  over  the  public 
that  is  so  far  changing  it  as  to  occasion  a drift  away 
from  the  old  barbaric  administrations  of  reproof.  There 
can  be  but  two  lawful  objects  to  be  obtained  by  the  en- 
forcement of  penalties,  viz. : the  reformation  of  the 
offender  and  the  protection  of  society.  We  unhesitat- 
ingly declare  that  capital  punishment  neither  reforms 
nor  protects ; it  may  have  been  lawful  in  a darker  age, 
but  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago  the  highest 
thought  in  Palestine  was  in  advance  of  it,  Jesus  seeing 
nothing  in  a perfect  fulfillment  of  the  moral  law  which 
required  the  taking  away  of  a human  life,  even  the  life 
of  one  who  had  slain  his  neighbor.  He  distinctly,  and 
with  great  emphasis,  repudiates  the  belief  that  God  is 
the  author  of  a retaliative  policy : all  retaliation  he  at- 


288 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


tributes  to  certain  men  of  old  with  whom  he  disagrees ; 
yet  he  says  he  came  not  to  destroy  the  law,  but  to  fulfill 
it.  The  object  of  legislation  is  unchanging;  its  out- 
ward forms  are  subject  to  incessant  alteration,  for  with 
the  constant  development  of  human  intelligence,  and 
particularly  the  moral  sense,  institutions  once  regarded 
as  essential  to  the  preservation  of  social  order  are 
frowned  upon  as  not  only  useless,  but  inhuman.  An 
eye  for  an  eye  and  a tooth  for  a tooth  ” was  barbaric 
justice.  No  one  could  ^call  it  injustice,  for  it  was  exact 
retribution  for  the  offense  committed ; one  eye  ex- 
changed for  one  eye,  one  tooth  as  payment  for  one 
tooth,  seems  perfectly  fair  and  harmonizes  perfectly 
with  that  crude  idea  of  compensation  which  possesses 
the  spiritually  untutored  mind.  But  Jesus,  seeing  far 
more  deeply  into  the  essence  of  the  moral  law,  knew 
such  modes  of  carrying  out  the  law  of  justice  must 
inevitably  result  in  a cruel  enforcement  of  justice,  un- 
tempered by  mercy,  and  wherever  love  is  absent,  the 
reformatory  and  protective  elements  in  just  penalties 
are  alike  impossible. 

The  old  prophecies,  whosoever  sheddeth  man’s 
blood,  by  man  shall  his  blood  be  shed,”  and  a life  for 
a life”  are  references  to  the  Oriental  doctrine  of  Karma, 
upon  which  we  have  entered  treating  of  Buddhism.  To 
interpret  prophecy  as  though  it  were  commandment, 
leads  to  gross  errors  in  administration  ; but  only  the 
humane  and  gentle  are  gifted  with  sufficient  spiritual 
insight  to  discern  the  true  meaning  of  such  profound 
utterances  as  deal  with  the  (to  ordinary  minds)  insol- 
uble mysteries  of  divine  government. 


LECTURE  XIV. 


289 


Whenever  Jesus  is  really  appealed  to  as  an  authority 
by  Christians,  Christianity  loses  all  its  asperity ; its  con- 
tradictions are  forgotten,  its  ecclesiastical  savagery  is 
replaced  by  love,  and  a fair  and  lovely  vision  of  divine 
beneficence  supplants  the  hideous  spectacle  of  a relig- 
ious inquisition.  The  cathedral  at  Seville,  in  Spain,  in 
front  of  which,  in  the  open  square,  bull  fights  are  of 
common  occurrence,  is  a scandal  and  disgrace  to  those 
who  profess  to  worship  Jesus,  of  sufficient  magnitude 
to  justify  the  harshest  accusations  by  the  most  rabid 
opponents  of  the  system.  The  horrors  of  the  Spanish 
inquisition,  whose  blood-curdling  details  are  so  often  re- 
hearsed as  arguments  against  Christianity,  are  indeed 
enough  to  repel  any  intelligent  or  humane  Jew  or 
‘‘heathen”  from  a system  under  whose  auspices  such 
flagrant  iniquities  could  possibly  be  sustained,  and  we 
hesitate  not  to  say  that  recent  persecutions  of  Jews  in 
Russia  and  Poland  have  been  vile  enough  to  brand  pro- 
fessedly Christian  governments  with  the  stigma  of 
perpetual  infamy.  Yea,  and  the  dealings  of  modern 
nations  with  the  Orient,  — opium  forced  upon  the  Chi- 
nese at  the  point  of  the  bayonet  by  Christian  soldiers. 
Missionaries,  Bibles,  ardent  spirits,  and  hosts  of  dis- 
solute practices,  all  sent  together  out  to  China  by 
Christian  emissaries,  avowedly  bent  on  the  holy  mission 
of  sanctifying  the  heathen,  cannot  but  create  a fearful 
recoil  against  Christianity  in  the  minds  of  the  Chinese, 
while  in  this  country  so  little  is  done  to  benefit  the 
Chinamen  that  the  thought  of  foreign  missions  must 
appear  ludicrous  in  the  extreme  to  the  serene  and 
placid  follower  of  Confucius,  who  taught  every  citizen 


290 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


to  mind  his  own  business,  to  value  virtue  more  than 
gold,  and  to  let  well  alone,  instead  of  forever,  with  fev- 
erish haste,  rushing  after  innovations,  and  living  so 
restless  a life  that  health,  happiness,  and  morality  are 
squandered  in  the  idolatry  of  the  god  of  gold. 

Wong  Chin  Foo  accuses  Americans  of  worshiping  the 
almighty  dollar  more  than  God,  of  buildihg  costly  tem- 
ples and  other  avowedly  religious  and  philanthropic  in- 
stitutions, which  they  support  at  the  expense  of  justice 
and  benevolence ; and  in  bringing  forward  such  accusa- 
tions he  is  doing  what  Jesus  himself  would  commend, 
for  surely  no  one  who  ever  lived  detested  avaricious- 
ness more  than  he  who  told  his  followers  not  to  be 
anxious  concerning  any  material  thing.  Strange,  in- 
deed, to  a heathen  ” must  be  the  anomalous  spectacle 
of  a people  worshiping  Jesus  with  their  lips,  and  practi- 
cally deserting  his  precepts  with  barefaced  impudence. 
Against  the  religion  of  Jesus,  Wong  Chin  Foo  has 
not  uttered  a single  word.  In  his  eulogy  of  Confu- 
cius and  the  Chinese  religion  he  has  not  betrayed  him- 
self into  a single  extravagance,  but  he  has  evidently 
failed  to  see  wherein  Jesus  as  a moral  teacher  surpassed 
Confucius,  and  may  indeed  have  been  that  star  in  the 
west”  to  which  Confucius  pointed,  whose  bright  shin- 
ing in  days  to  come  he  eloquently  foretold. 

Having  alluded  to  the  pessimistic  tendencies  of  the 
system  of  Confucius,  and  to  his  melancholy  disposition, 
we  do  not  feel  it  would  be  just  to  dismiss  our  theme 
without  assigning  what  we  feel  to  be,  after  all,  the  true 
reason  for  the  sadness  of  the  great  Chinese  sage.  So 
lofty  were  his  ideals,  so  keen  his  prophetic  foresight. 


LECTURE  XIV. 


291 


that  his  spirit  looked  ahead  across  the  vistas  of  ages, 
and  saw  the  ultimate  future  not  only  of  China,  but  of 
the  world.  The  true  greatness  of  all  idealism  consists 
in  its  prophetic  inspiration.  Realism  is  cold,  lifeless, 
and  inefficient,  because  it  sees  no  future.  Artistic  cre- 
ations are  immortal ; imitations  are  all  short-lived. 
Quixotic  schemes,  Utopian  projects,  never  desert  us, 
because  Don  Quixote  is  ever  a prophet,  and  Utopia  is 
our  future  state  of  being. 

All  before  us,  not  behind  us,  lies  paradise  without  a 
serpent.  The  future  of  the  world  will  witness  the  ab- 
sence of  every  obnoxious  beast,  venomous  reptile,  pois- 
onous tree,  and  contentious  man ; but  the  future  is  often 
the  distant  future,  and  he  who  thinks  it  immediate  is 
terribly  apt  to  be  disheartened  and  die  in  despair  of  his 
darling  hopes  ever  being  fulfilled  for  humanity.  Isaiah 
saw  the  possible  future  of  the  house  of  Israel,  and  the 
certain  destiny  of  universal  mankind.  In  his  noblest 
flights  of  poetry  time  and  distance  are  annihilated.  He 
sees  the  whole  earth  in  the  coming  days  of  glory,  but 
never  yet  in  the  experience  of  the  Jewish  people  have 
Isaiah’s  glorious  prophecies  been  literally  fulfilled,  and 
Christianity  has  certainly  been  far  from  the  realization 
of  Isaiah’s  vision.  Still  Isaiah’s  words  of  hope  and 
comfort  have  kept  up  the  fainting  spirits  of  exiled,  per- 
secuted Hebrews,  when  to  be  a Jew  in  Europe  meant  to 
be  an  outlaw,  to  dwell  in  a wretched  ghetto  apart  from 
all  the  rest  of  mankind,  and  be  a target  at  which  the 
most  envenomed  arrows  of  hatred  and  cruel  mendacity 
were  perpetually  hurled. 

Jeremiah,  on  the  other  hand,  though  also  a great 


292 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


prophet,  never  rose  to  the  sublimity  of  Isaiah,  because 
he  was  the  poet  of  complaint,  while  Isaiah  was  the  poet 
of  hope  and  jubilant  exultation.  Individual  tempera- 
ment has  much  to  do  with  the  view  one  takes  of  life ; 
a restless,  eager  soul  that  cannot  always^  feast  upon  the 
outlined  glories  of  celestial  mountains  rising  above  the 
clouds  in  the  far  distance,  falls  into  depression,  often 
into  despair,  when  darkness  intercepts  his  view,  and 
mists  and  shadows  hide  the  mountains  from  his  gaze. 
Confucius  could  never  stand  on  the  top  of  Mt.  Pisgah 
and  view  the  promised  land  as  the  sure  and  certain  pos- 
session of  his  countrymen  in  his  later  days.  He  could 
not  see  beyond  death,  as  Jesus  or  as  Moses  could.  He 
was  disheartened  because  of  the  length  of  time  spent 
in  the  wilderness,  and  the  smallness  of  the  number  of 
those  who  would  undertake  an  exodus  from  Egypt  at 
all.  His  countrymen  had  long  remained  in  bondage 
to  hoary  errors ; they,  with  characteristic  Oriental  con- 
servatism, were  slow  to  change.  Not  only  was  the  dis- 
tance great  between  them  and  the  glorious  goal  ahead, 
but  those  who  did  attempt  the  march  forward  walked 
feebly  and  falteringly;  they  crept  like  the  tortoise, 
while  their  leader  wanted  them  to  run  like  the  hare, 
and  they  often  turned  backward;  then  when  the  true 
import  and  full  significance  of  his  mission  was  made 
known  to  them,  many  deserted  his  standard  and  grieved 
him  with  their  apostacy  for  filthy  lucre’s  sake.  This 
was  gall  and  wormwood  to  his  spirit;  it  pained  him 
deeply.  When  he  was  misinterpreted  and  reviled  he 
never  answered  back  in  anger,  but  his  heart  was  sore, 
and,  with  a gentle  and  pitiful  contempt,  he  lost  faith 


LECTURE  XIV. 


293 


in  humanity,  esteeming  a people  hardly  worth  saving  if 
they  would  not  save  themselves. 

We  think  no  better  simile  of  the  efforts  of  Confucius 
can  be  shown  us  than  the  spectacle  of  a young,  energetic 
man  catching  sight  of  a glorious  range  of  mountains, 
from  the  snow-capped,  light-crowned  peaks  of  which  a 
view  of  the  most  gorgeous  and  extensive  scenery  can 
be  obtained.  The  day  is  fine,  the  air  bracing,  the  sun 
brightly  shining;  it  is  early  morn,  the  birds  are  just 
pouring  forth  their  matin  praise ; the  youth  is  strong 
and  refreshed  for  labor,  and  so  near  seem  the  hills,  he 
thinks  he  can  gain  not  only  their  base,  but  reach  their 
summits  before  nightfall.  But,  alas  for  him,  he  has 
altogether  miscalculated  the  distance  between  him  and 
them,  and  still  further  has  he  underrated  the  length  of 
the  journey  from  base  to  summit,  and  the  exceeding 
difficulty  of  the  way.  Day  after  day  and  night  after 
night  go  by ; he  wearies  on  the  road,  sinks  to  sleep 
one  night  with  the  mountains  out  of  sight  because  be- 
clouded with  mist,  and  thinks  at  last  that  he  has  been 
a fool  for  his  pains  in  striving  to  reach  what  must,  after 
all,  be  but  a mirage  in  the  desert.  After  a sleep  unusu- 
ally profound  and  refreshing,  he  wakes  to  find  them 
close  at  hand.  He  has  traveled  further  than  he  knew 
in  the  days  of  mist  and  shadow,  when  their  dim  outlines 
were  scarcely  discernible,  and  at  length,  after  days  in- 
stead of  hours  of  effort,  he  finds  the  mountains  there  in 
greater  size  and  grandeur  than  any  far-off  prospect 
could  reveal. 

Confucius  could  never  know  how  far  along  the  road 
he  had  himself  traveled,  or  how  many  others  he  had  in- 


294 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


duced  to  undertake  the  forward  march,  till  the  clearer 
light  of  immortality,  after  physical  dissolution,  awoke 
within  him  in  that  realm  of  revelation  where  his  doubt- 
ing but  ever  faithful  spirit  grasped  with ^ an  unyielding 
grip  the  truth  of  optimism.  A soul  so  noble  could 
never  have  been  disappointed  after  death,  whatever 
set-backs  he  may  have  encountered  on  this  side  of  Jor- 
dan. His  closing  hours  were  marked  by  peaceful  resig- 
nation and  tender,  loving  solicitude  for  the  well-being 
of  his  country,  yea,  the  world  at  large,  though  he  made 
special  efforts  to  secure  the  well-being  of  his  own  beloved 
children.  No  more  loving  father,  no  more  powerful 
moralist,  no  more  faithful  man  ever  trod  the  earth : 
but  he  had  not  the  all-conquering  power  of  Jesus  to 
abolish  death  and  triumph  so  gloriously  over  its  domin- 
ion as  to  make  his  death  the  door  of  hope  to  all  who 
should  read  of  it. 

As  to  the  moral  and  social  condition  of  the  Chinese 
Empire,  there  are  two  sides  to  every  question.  Wong 
Chin  Foo  is  evidently  a patriot,  — in  some  senses  a par- 
tisan,— and  therefore  not  an  altogether  disinterested 
witness,  but  we  believe  him  when  he  says  crime  is  less 
frequent  in  China  than  in  England  and  America.  The 
much-lauded  and  decidedly  overestimated  civilization 
of  the  West  loses  much  when  its  restless  mammon- 
worship  is  contrasted  with  the  reposeful  stolidity  of 
Eastern  peoples.  A careful  comparison  of  Oriental 
religions,  and  a further  acquaintance  with  the  actual 
condition  of  Asiatics  cannot  but  knock  some  of  the 
conceit  out  of  those  pretenders  to  a monopoly  of  cul- 
ture and  revelation  who  calmly  imagine  Europe  and 


LECTUKE  XIV. 


295 


America  terrestrial  paradises,  while  Asia  and  Africa  are 
to  them  purgatories,  if  not  infernal  dominions. 

Without  adopting  the  Christian  name,  we  can  end 
this  lecture  with  the  words,  “ Come  to  Jesus.”  We  do 
not  invite  our  readers  to  Christianity,  but  to  that  sim- 
ple gospel  of  love  proclaimed  by  its  alleged  founder. 
To  Wong  Chin  Foo  we  do  not  say.  Abandon  Confu- 
cianism ; for  there  is  no  Christian  society  he  would  be 
improved  by  joining ; but  we  do  say  to  him  (and  per- 
haps he  does  not  need  the  advice  — he  may  have 
already  done  so).  Study  carefully  the  ethics  of  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount,  and  you  may  become  a mission- 
ary to  Christians  in  their  own  land.  You  have  been 
rather  severe  on  the  Unitarians,  but  scarcely  too  much 
so  on  any  other  denomination.  Spiritualism,  as  it  is  at 
this  time  usually  presented,  might  repel  rather  than 
attract  you,  and  possibly  Theosophy  may  be  too  mys- 
tical in  its  appearance  to  invite  your  examination.  You 
evidently  are  desirous  of  seeing  established  in  America 
a universal  practical  religion  of  good  and  noble  deeds, 
without  cant  and  without  dissimulation.  You  can  find 
in  the  ethics  of  Judaism,  and  also  in  the  gospel  utter- 
ances (which  are,  as  Benjamin  DTsraeli  always  said, 
but  an  amplification  of  the  Hebrew  religion)  exactly 
the  material  you  need  to  work  upon.  We  are  all 
deeply  indebted  to  you  for  your  scathing  though  mer- 
ited tirade  against  hypocrisy,  and  trust  the  American 
people  will  so  far  follow  your  good  advice  as  to  live  by 
all  the  good  there  is  in  the  Confucian  philosophy,  and, 
not  resting  there,  harmonize  their  lives  with  the  yet 
more  spiritual  teachings  of  the  prophet  of  Galilee. 


296 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


Thus  may  they  develop  a truly  theosophical  religion, 
to  which  no  Confucian,  Brahman,  Parsee,  Buddhist,  or 
any  other  Oriental  need  take  the  slightest  exception ; 
for  Theosophy  is  free  universal  religion  (not  creedism) 
in  the  broadest  meaning  of  the  phrase. 


LECTURE  XV. 


ELECTKICAL  CHEISTIAN  THEOSOPHY  ; ELECTRICITY 

THE  BASIS  OF  LIFE;  AN  ELECTRIC  CREED;  ELEC- 
TRICAL THERAPEUTICS. 

In  approaching  the  subject  of  electricity  in  this  age 
of  marvelous  and  ever-multiplying  electrical  inventions 
and  appliances,  we  are  led  to  inquire  whether,  despite 
all  the  control  which  man  is  seemingly  gaining  over 
the  electric  fluid,  electricity  is  not,  after  all,  the  sover- 
eign master  instead  of  the  obedient  servant.  A very 
wonderful  and  truly  theosophical  book,  ‘‘A  Romance 
of  Two  Worlds,”  by  Marie  Corelli,  continues  to  circu- 
late widely  all  over  America  as  well  as  in  England, 
where  it  was  originally  published.  The  authoress  is 
evidently  a woman  of  sincere  and  noble  convictions, 
and  uses  her  facile  pen  and  unusual  ability  as  a novel- 
ist, to  convey  to  the  minds  of  her  readers  something 
like  an  adequate  idea  of  the  stupendous  power  inherent 
in  a force  about  which  so  few  really  know  anything. 
Dr.  Moliere  of  San  Francisco,  and  other  truly  eminent 
physicians  who  do  honor  to  the  profession  they  adorn, 
are  in  exact  agreement  with  Marie  Corelli,  in  declaring 
it  to  be  their  conviction  that  electricity  is  the  one  only 
vital  force  in  nature ; that  it  can -be  gathered  from  the 
atmosphere  and  returned  to  the  earth,  but  is  never  gen- 


298 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


erated  and  never  destroyed.  Dr.  Scott,  whose  various 
inventions  have  made  his  name  known  everywhere,  no 
doubt  tells  a great  truth  through  the  instrumentality 
of  a hair-brush,  when  he  makes  that  common  toilet 
accessory  declare  on  its  back,  which  holds  a battery, 
the  germ  of  all  life  is  electricity.”  To  many  who  read 
these  Avords,  an  idea  is  at  once  erroneously  conveyed, 
that  if  this  be  so,  there  can  be  no  spiritual  basis  of  life, 
for  electricity  is  generally  regarded  as  a blind  force 
utterly  distinct  from  everything  we  can  call  mind,  soul, 
or  spirit.  Such,  however,  is  not  the  case ; this  subtle 
all-pervading  force  is  in  its  essence  purely  spiritual,  and 
flows  through  all  the  kingdoms  and  forms  of  nature 
as  their  life-giving  principle,  or  nothing  could  exist. 
We  cannot  affirm  that  what  we  are  accustomed  to  call 
electricity  is  other  than  a manifestation  of  spirit,  a 
phenomenal  display  of  the  unitary  life-principle  which 
pervades  the  universe ; it  is  indeed  the  sole  agent  em- 
ployed by  intelligence  itself  in  its  expressions  through 
the  varied  and  numberless  fields  of  nature.  As  it  is 
part  of  the  object  of  this  volume  to  review  standard 
works  bearing  on  Theosophy,  in  the  broad  acceptance 
of  the  word,  we  will  here  introduce  extracts  from  ‘‘  A 
Romance  of  Two  Worlds,”  appending  such  comments 
of  our  own  as  we  may  find  necessary  to  insure  our  read- 
ers’ understanding  of  our  own  attitude  to  this*  extraor- 
dinary revelation,  — for  revelation  it  is;  and  a reve- 
lation, moreover,  peculiarly  timely  when  electricity  is 
everywhere  the  subject  of  thought  and  experimentation. 
As  we  cannot  do  more  than  briefly  allude  to  any  one 
book,  no  matter  how  valuable  its  contents,  owing  to 


LECTURE  XV. 


299 


our  limited  space,  we  shall  present  our  readers  with 
only  such  extracts  from  Marie  Corelli’s  priceless  con- 
tribution to  literature  as  seem  to  us  of  special  interest 
and  importance  to  students  of  Theosophy,  which  means 
for  us  the  all  in  all  of  spiritual  revelation. 

From  the  Introduction  to  the  50-cent  edition  of  A 
Romance  of  Two  Worlds,”  published  by  Ivers  & Co.,  New 
k,  we  extract  the  following  sublime  utterances : — 


V In  spite  of  the  doctrines  of  agnostics  and  materialists,  there  is' 
a perpetual,  passionate  craving  in  the  souls  of  many  for  that  in- 
ward peace  and  absolute  content  which  can  only  be  obtained  by  a 
perfect  faith  in  God  and  the  coming  Life  Eternal.  Materialism 
does  not  and  can  never  still  the  hunger  of  the  Immortal  Spirit  in 
man  for  those  things  divine,  which  are,  by  right,  its  heritage. 
Nothing  on  earth  can  soothe  or  console  it  — nothing  temporal  can 
long  delight  it  — in  time  the  best  gifts  the  world  can  offer  seem 
valueless ; while  one  spark  of  God’s  own  essence  remains  alit  within 
us,  it  is  impossible  that  here,  on  this  limited  plane  of  thought  and 
action,  we  should  ever  be  satisfied.  I do  not  address  myself  to 
those  who  have  forsaken  all  spirituality  — who  have  made  their 
cold  adieux  to  God,  and  who,  of  their  own  free  will  and  choice,  lie 
down  in  dust  and  ashes,  with  foolish  faces  turned  earthward  and 
hidden  from  the  light  — to  them  I say  pitifully,  “Requiescat  in 
pace ! ” for  they  are  as  though  they  were  not.  It  is  to  those  who 
feel  the  quick  stirrings  of  a larger,  grander  life  within  them  — who 
realize  with  love  and  eagerness  the  wonders  of  the  world  to  come, 
and  who  gaze  appealingly  across  the  darkness  of  present  things, 
striving  to  see,  no  matter  how  distantly,  the  first  faint  glimmer  of 
the  brightness  that  glitters  beyond  the  grave  — to  these  I speak, 
inadequately  and  feebly  I know,  yet  with  all  my  soul  desiring  to 
cheer  them,  as  they  climb  from  steep  to  steep  of  high  thought  and 
noble  endeavor,  onward  and  upward. 

The  “ Romance”  has  since  its  appearance  been  made  the  subject 
of  much  discussion ; and  I,  as  its  author,  have  had  to  submit  to  a 
great  deal  of  cross-questioning  concerning  its  theories.  I have  been 


300 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


brought  into  contact  with  many  peculiar  phases  of  thought  and 
feeling  relating  to  occultism  and  clairvoyance,  and  people  of  all 
shades  of  opinion  seek  my  acquaintance  in  the  expectation  of  being 
initiated  into  something  very  strange  and  mysterious  — let  me  say, 
something  vulgarly  melodramatic  — concerning  the  spiritual  world. 
Their  disappointment  is  always  extreme  when  they  learn  that  my 
creed*has  its  foundation  in  Christ  alone,  and  that  I date  my  spir- 
itual growth  in  this  world  from  that  one  Light,  containing  in  itself 
both  the  divine  and  human  essence  of  absolute  power,  wisdom  and 
purity.  Only  Christ ! ” is  the  look  plainly  expressed  in  their  faces ; 
and  they  turn  from  me  altogether  puzzled  and  dissatisfied.  Were 
I to  initiate  them — or  rather  pretend  to  initiate  them  — into  some 
new  or  old  form  of  Buddhism  — could  I show  them  some  poor  trick- 
ery such  as  the  vanishing  of  a box  in  the  air,  the  turning  of  a red 
flower  to  white,  or  white  to  red,  or  any  of  the  optical  illusions  prac- 
ticed with  such  skill  by  native  conjurers,  I might  easily  be  sur- 
rounded by  disciples  of  ‘‘  Occultism  ” — persons  who  are  generally 
ready,  nay,  even  eager,  to  be  deceived.  But  Only  Christ ! ” — only 
the  old,  old  story  of  Divine  Love  and  Sacrifice ! — how  tame  and 
trivial!  No  skipping  about  of  chairs  and  tables  — no  “demateri- 
alization of  matter  ” — no  jumping  through  a ceiling  without  mak- 
ing a hole  in  it  — not  even  a sideboard  possessed  of  voluntary  voli- 
tion— no  excitement  — no  incipient  madness  — nothing  but  the 
well-worn  doctrines  of  Christ  which  have  been  dinned  into  our 
ears  from  childhood  — how  shall  anything  new  come  of  these  ? 

Many  have  eagerly  asked  me : “ How  can  we  perform  miracles  ? 
“Can  we  see  visions?”  “How  are  we  to  cultivate  the  electric 
Spirit  within  us  ? ” I have  only  one  reply  to  make  to  these  “ search- 
ers after  the  unseen  ” : it  is  this  — “ With  God  all  things  are  possi- 
ble.” Without  Him,  nothing  is  possible.  The  power  of  performing 
miracles,  the  gifts  of  healing  and  prophecy,  and  the  ability  to  see 
beyond  the  things  of  this  world,  are  all  obtainable,  but  only  through 
absolute  faith  in  Christ.  The  smallest  hesitation,  the  least  grain 
of  that  insolent  and  foolish  pride  which  dares  to  deny  the  very  ex- 
istence of  the  Creator,  the  faintest  shadow  of  self-seeking  or  self- 
love,  and  the  inner  spiritual  force  is  instantly  paralyzed.  It  cannot 
be  too  strongly  impressed  on  the  minds  of  those  interested  in  this 


LECTURE  Xy. 


301 


high  question,  that  nothing  temporal,  however  pleasant,  brings  any 
gratification  or  advantage  to  the  Soul.  While  pent  up  in  clay  it  is  a 
cramped  and  prisoned  creature,  and  unless  fed  with  the  divine  and 
heating  influences  of  unselfish  love,  unswerving  faith,  high  aspira- 
tions and  pure  devotion,  at  starves  and  dwindles  down  to  so  feeble 
a flame  that,  when  the  body  in  which  it  has  passed  such  a miser- 
able existence  perishes,  it  is  forced  to  seek  elsewhere  for  some  fresh 
chance  of  development.  I have  explained  this  fully  in  the  Electric 
Creed  ” which,  I may  here  observe,  has  been  much  commented  upon, 
and  by  some  deemed  blasphemous  — I know  not  why.  Its  tenets 
are  completely  borne  out  by  the  New  Testament,  which  sacred  little 
book,  however,  has  much  of  its  mystical  and  true  meaning  obscured 
nowadays  through  the  indifference  of  those  who  read,  and  the 
apathy  of  those  who  hear.  Sunday  after  Sunday  its  noble  pas- 
sages are  drawled  or  droned  forth  by  clergymen  who  have  ceased 
to  put  any  life  or  soul  into  their  manner  of  utterance,  and  most  of 
whom  look  upon  their  sacred  vocation  merely  as  a means  of  liveli- 
hood. Their  congregations  appear  to  listen,  but  in  truth  their 
thoughts  are  far  away  — they  have  heard  it  so  often,”  they  mur- 
mur, with  an  apologetic  yawn.  The  words,  “ Because  iniquity  shall 
abound,  the  love  of  many  shall  wax  cold,”  fall  on  dull  and  inatten- 
tive ears : the  people  are  unconscious  that  in  themselves  they  are 
fulfilling  that  prophecy  as  well  as  this:  “Seeing,  they  shall  not 
see;  and  hearing,  they  shall  not  understand.  ...” 

True  spiritual  progress  and  knowledge  are  shown  in  the  cheerful^ 
sincere^  and  wholesome  life  of  the  person  possessing  it,  and  in  the  en~ 
couraging  and  ennobling  influence  that  life  has  on  the  lives  of  others. 
Moreover,  it  is  displayed  in  the  buoyancy  and  tireless  energy  of  the 
body  in  which  the  beautiful,  expanding,  highly  destined  Spirit  is  for  a 
time  bidden  to  work  — in  the  brightness  and  serenity  of  the  eye,  the 
absence  of  all  depression,  the  contentment  and  tranquillity  of  the  dispo- 
sition and  temper.  Hypnotism,  which  is  merely  animal  magnetism 
called  by  a new  name,  and  which  is  nothing  but  a physical  attraction 
of  strong  bodies  brought  to  bear  on  weakly,  diseased,  or  passive  ones, 
has  nothing  whatever  in  common  with  what  1 may  designate  spiritual 
electric  force.  The  professor  of  hypnotism  is  able  on  certain  occa- 
sions to  instil  a thought  into  the  mind  of  his  patient,  and  force 


302 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


him  (or  her  — it  is  generally  a feeble  woman  who  is  the  subject 
practiced  upon)  to  act  upon  it;  pain  may  be  soothed,  and  long 
trances  may  ensue,  but  this  power  is  only  temporary.  The  trance 
of  hypnotism  is  a stupor,  — in  it  the  patient  sees  nothing  worth 
remembering,  even  if  he  could  remember,  which  he  never  does. 
This  is  a positive  sign  that  hypnotism  pertains  to  the  material 
side  of  existence,  and  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  spiritual.  Many 
persons  — particularly  women  — who  are  highly  nervous  and  in  a 
debilitated  condition  of  mind  and  body,  imagine  their  state  of 
chronic  hysteria  to  be  one  of  supernatural  inspiration  ; and  several 
such  overwrought  beings  have  been  introduced  to  me  as  “ wonderful 
spiritualists,”  whereas  they  are  only  sickly  and  morbid.  True  Spir- 
itualism is  above  all  things  healthy ; it  places  the  human  being  in  a fear- 
less^ noble  attitude  toward  both  God  and  Man^  and  nothing  but  benefits 
can  accrue  from  it,  . . . 

The  miracles  of  Christ  were  emanations  of  pitying  love  and  entire 
unselfishness,  performed  solely  for  the  benefit  or  relief  of  others^  with- 
out ostentation  or  pretense  at  mystery, 

I once  asked  an  ardent  Buddhist  the  reason  of  his  preference 
for  Buddhism  to  Christianity.  He  hesitated  a little,  then  said : 

Oh,  I don’t  know ! Anything  for  a change ! ” After  this,  who 
could  doubt  the  sincerity  of  his  convictions?  Certainly,  if  ever 
there  was  a time  for  a new  apostle  of  Christ  to  arise  and  preach 
His  grandly  simple  message  anew  that  time  is  now.  Such  a one 
should  belong  to  no  Church,  for  in  the  multitude  of  churches  and  their 
differing  and,  unhappily,  quarrelsome  sects,  Christ  is  crucified  over  and 
over  again,  and  made  to  die  a thousand  shameful  deaths.  The  old 
forms  of  preaching  do  not  move  the  minds  of  the  present  genera- 
tion. There  needs  fresh  fire,  more  touching  eloquence,  more  earnest- 
ness of  purpose.  And  the  light  of  Science  must  be  brought  to  bear 
on  the  New  Testament,  in  which  its  glorious  pages  will  grow  bright 
with  hitherto  unguessed  mystical  meanings  if  humbly  and  prayer- 
fully studied.  1 have  often  wondered  at  the  density  of  preachers  who, 
in  accordance  with  the  established  rule  of  their  order,  keep  on  telling 
their  congregations  to  “ save  their  souls,^*  without  making  the  slightest 
attempt  to  explain  what  the  Soul  is.  The  people  taken  en  masse  are 
never  brought  to  realize  the  fact  of  the  imperishable  inner  Self 


LECTURE  XV. 


303 


within  each  one  of  them  — that  actual  Self  which  claims  as  much  and 
more  sustenance  than  the  outer  body  on  which  we  spend  such  a supera- 
bundance of  care  — care  which  avails  nothing  at  death,  while  the  atten- 
tion bestowed  on  the  deathless  part  of  us  avails  everything.  The  world 
is  growing  surely  tired  of  monotonous  sermons  on  the  old  Jewish 
doctrine  of  original  sin  and  necessary  sacrifice.  Most  truly  did 
Christ  declare,  “ In  vain  do  they  worship  Me,  teaching  for  doctrine 
the  commandments  of  menJ^ 

And,  as  has  been  set  forth  in  the  Electric  Creed,’’  Christ  did 
not  come  to  us  as  a Sacrifice,  but  as  a means  of  close  communica- 
tion with  God.  / consider  it  both  horrible  and  sacrilegious  to  imagine 
that  God,  the  Creator  of  Love  and  Beauty,  could  desire  a bleeding  vic- 
tim as  a sacrifice  to  appease  His  anger,  and  that  Victim  part  of  Him- 
self imprisoned  in  human  form  — as  if  God  could  feel  such  an  un- 
ivorthy  passion  as  anger  ! Sorrow,  pity,  desire  to  draw  the  love  of  even 
so  small  a part  of  His  creation  as  this  earth  nearer  to  His  Infinite  Pro- 
tection — these  emotions  are  God-like,  and  are  all  displayed  in  the  per- 
son of  His  Christ,  This  is  why  I venture  to  say  that  the  time  has 
come  for  a new  form  of  preaching,  that  shall  show  the  Gospel  to 
be  one  of  Love,  not  Fear.  Not  because,  coward-like,  we  are  afraid 
to  displease  God,  should  we  endeavor  to  purify  our  lives,  but  be- 
cause we  know  and  feel  we  have  a spark  of  His  essence  in  ourselves 
that  attracts  us  to  Him  (and  therefore  to  all  goodness)  by  the  force 
of  pure  Love  alone.  Not  because  we  would  shun  future  punish- 
ment or  desire  future  joy,  but  because  we  know  we  are  akin  to 
Him  and  He  to  us,  and  in  that  marvelous  affinity  feel  that  we 
would  rather  perish  forever  than  wrong  by  so  much  as  a thought 
the  Supremely  Beloved.  This,  it  seems  to  me,  is  Christianity  as 
Christ  meant  it ; Unselfish  love  for  the  Creator,  the  corresponding 
cord  of  which  must  be  unselfish  love  for  all  he  has  created ; love 
radiating  like  broad  sunbeams  everywhere  without  grudge  or  stint ; 
love  for  one’s  fellow-creatures ; love  for  the  birds  and  flowers  and 
all  the  wise  and  wonderful  workings  of  nature ; love,  the  first  and 
best  nourishment  of  the  spirit  within  us,  which,  fed  thus,  responds 
like  a vibrating  harp  string  to  the  smallest  hint  from  the  Divine 
master-hand  ; love  which  looks  beyond  the  veil  of  temporal  things, 
and  sees  clearly  with  most  bright  and  undazzled  eyes ; love  which 


304 


STUDIES  m THEOSOPHY. 


is  endowed  with  perfect  faith,  because,  being  part  of  God,  it  can- 
not doubt  God’s  existence.  And  to  the  immortal  spirit  pos- 
sessed of  this  love,  all  things  are  possible  — all  miracles,  all  gifts 
of  healing  and  high  influence.  But  without  it  all  spiritual  research 
is  utterly  useless.  . . . 

The  distinguishing  mark  of  the  true  Spiritualist  is  what  I may 
call  Self -rejection.  Self  stands  on  one  side,  as  it  were,  and  is  no 
longer  allowed  to  obscure  the  soul’s  view  of  the  splendid  universe 
to  which  it  belongs.  And  I affirm,  and  will  most  ardently  main- 
tain, that  in  the  teachings  of  Christ  will  be  found  all  the  secrets 
of  occult  science,  all  the  keynotes  of  the  myriad,  upward-sounding 
scales  of  the  highest  active  spirituality  — spirituality  that  has  noth- 
ing to  do  with  a morbid  imagination  and  a debilitated  or  diseased 
physical  frame,  but  that,  on  the  contrary,  is  strong  and  calm,  use- 
ful and  beneficial  wherever  it  works ; cheering,  strengthening,  en- 
couraging, and  ennobling  all  with  whom  it  is  brought  in  contact, 
and  leaving  men  and  women  better,  happier,  and  purer  for  its  in- 
fluence. Such  spirituality,  the  outcome  of  the  electric  spirit  of 
Divinity  in  man,  corresponding  to  the  supreme  center  of  Divinity 
in  the  Creator,  can  see  and  converse  with  angels  — can  heal  the 
sick  and  console  the  afflicted  — can  preserve  health  in  the  body 
and  beauty  in  the  face  and  form  — can  even  retain  youth  much 
longer  than  materialists  dream  of  — can  meet  misfortune  as  though 
it  were  joy,  and  can  triumph  in  death,  knowing  Death  to  be  but 
this  world’s  name  for  Life. 

* The  idea  of  Eternity,  as  depicted  in  the  Electric  Ring  ei\com- 
passing  God’s  World”  contained  in  that  part  of  the  ‘‘Romance” 
called  “ A Miniature  Creation,”  has  been  for  the  most  part  passed 
over  by  those  who  have  reviewed  my  book  in  the  columns  of  the 
press,  and  it  is  to  this  I wish  briefly  to  draw  the  attention  of  my 
readers.  The  Ring  is  described  as  perpetually  creative  and  perpetu- 
ally absorbent . Planets  are  from  time  to  time  drawn  within  it  and 
again  cast  forth  from  it,  and  of  this  tremendous  electric  Force 
there  can  be  no  end,  inasmuch  as  it  is  the  outer  circle  or  atmos- 
phere of  the  Central  Planet  of  all  planets  wherein  the  Creator  has 
His  being.  The  theory  is  simple,  yet  by  it  all  the  gigantic  and 
minute  marvels  of  the  universe  are  made  easy  of  comprehension  — 


LECTURE  XV. 


305 


as  easy  as  the  explanation  of  the  main-spring  of  a watch,  though 
an  untutored  savage  would  find  a watch  most  difficult  to  under- 
stand. But  to  the  mechanician  who  has  put  the  watch  together 
and  knows  how  to  wind  it  up,  there  is  no  mystery  in  the  seemingly 
intricate  work;  and  we,  who  consider  ourselves  wise,  especially 
when  we  are  called  scientists  — we  who,  in  the  insolent  littleness 
of  our  limited  thought,  sometimes  presume  to  dismiss  the  Creator 
as  no  part  of  His  creation — we  shall  in  the  hereafter  wake  up  from 
the  troubled  dream  we  call  living,  to  the  fact  that  the  great  Chro- 
nometer of  the  Universe  is  quite  a simple  thing  — so  simple  that  we 
shall  wonder  at  ourselves  for  not  reading  its  apparent  secret  before. 
As  the  wise  king  wrote : “ The  thoughts  of  mortal  men  are  misera- 
ble, and  their  devices  are  but  uncertain.  For  the  corruptible  body 
presseth  down  the  soul,  and  the  earthly  tabernacle  weigheth  down 
the  mind  that  museth  upon  many  things.  And  hardly  do  we  guess 
aright  the  things  that  are  upon  earth,  and  with  labor  do  we  find 
the  things  that  are  before  our  eyes;  but  the  things  that  are  in 
heaven  who  hath  searched  out?  Except  Thou  give  wisdom  and 
send  Thy  Holy  Spirit  from  ahoveT 

I have  lately  been  accused  by  a leading  critic  of  imagining  a 
new  heaven  and  earth,  and  passionately  flinging  them  in  the  teeth 
of  an  obstinate  reality  that  will  not  conform  to  them.”  But  I 
have  imagined  no  theory  of  which  the  starting-point  cannot  be 
found  in  the  Scriptures,  and  the  only  ‘‘obstinate  reality”  I am 
aware  of  in  this  world  is  death,  to  which,  undoubtedly,  all  things 
must  conform.  Therefore  I hope  I do  “ passionately  fling  into  the 
teeth  of  that  obstinate  reality  ” my  glad,  grateful,  and  full  belief  in 
the  future  existence  — the  coming  life  of  perfect  joy,  love,  and 
beauty  — a life  which  alone  is  worth  working  for,  hoping  for,  pray- 
ing for,  — and  compared  to  which,  in  my  eyes  at  least,  this  earth 
seems  but  a sort  of  eclipse  — a black  disk,  obscuring  for  a time  the 
desired  and  desirable  sunlight  — a passing  cloud,  the  movement  of 
which  I note  with  a certain  impatience,  accepting  its  shadow,  as  it 
falls  on  my  soul,  not  as  an  “ obstinate  reality,”  but  simply  as  shadow 
through  which  sometimes  — by  the  way  of  the  Cross  — the  light  of 
the  veUed  Glory  shines.  Coeelli^ 


306 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


The  following  equally  beautiful,  powerful,  and  ex- 
ceedingly apposite  words  at  this  juncture  in  the  world’s 
thought  are  from  the  Prologue  : — 

We  live  in  an  age  of  universal  inquiry,  ergo  of  universal  skepti- 
cism. The  prophecies  of  the  poet,  the  dreams  of  the  philosopher 
and  scientist,  are  being  daily  realized  — things  formerly  considered 
mere  fairy-tales  have  become  facts  — yet,  in  spite  of  the  marvels  of 
learning  and  science  that  are  hourly  accomplished  among  us,  the 
attitude  of  mankind  is  one  of  disbelief.  “ There  is  no  God  ! ''  cries 
one  theorist ; “ or  if  there  be  one,  / can  obtain  no  proof  of  His 
existence!’’  “There  is  no  Creator!”  exclaims  another.  “The 
Universe  is  simply  a rushing  together  of  atoms.”  “ There  can  be 
no  Immortality,”  asserts  a third.  “We  are  but  dust,  and  to  dust 
we  shall  return.”  “ What  is  called  by  idealists  the  Soul,”  argues 
another,  “ is  simply  the  vital  principle  composed  of  heat  and  air, 
which  escapes  from  the  body  at  death,  and  mingles  again  with  its 
native  element.  A candle  when  lit  emits  flame ; blow  out  the  light, 
the  flame  vanishes  — where?  Would  it  not  be  madness  to  assert 
the  flame  immortal?  Yet  the  soul,  or  vital  principle  of  human 
existence,  is  no  more  than  the  flame  of  a candle.” 

If  you  propound  to  these  theorists  the  eternal  question  why?  — 
why  is  the  world  in  existence  ? why  is  there  a universe  ? why  do  we 
live  ? why  do  we  think  and  plan  ? why  do  we  perish  at  the  last  ? — 
their  grandiose  reply  is,  “ Because  of  the  Law  of  Universal  Neces- 
sity.” They  cannot  explain  this  mysterious  Law  to  themselves,  nor 
can  they  probe  deep  enough  to  find  the  answer  to  a still  more  tre- 
mendous WHY  — namely.  Why  is  there  a Law  of  Universal  Neces- 
sity?— but  they  are  satisfied  with  the  result  of  their  reasonings,  if 
not  wholly,  yet  in  part,  and  seldom  try  to  search  beyond  that  great 
vague  vast  Necessity,  lest  their  finite  brains  should  reel  into  mad- 
ness worse  than  death.  Becognizing,  therefore,  that  in  this  culti- 
vated age  a wall  of  skepticism  and  cynicism  is  gradually  being 
built  up  by  intellectual  thinkers  of  every  nation  against  all  that 
treats  of  the  Supernatural  and  Unseen,  I am  aware  that  my  narra- 
tion of  the  events  I have  recently  experienced  will  be  read  with 
incredulity.  At  a time  when  the  great  empire  of  the  Christian 


LECTUKE  XV. 


307 


Religion  is  being  assailed,  or  politely  ignored  by  governments  and 
public  speakers  and  teachers,  I realize  to  the  fullest  extent  how 
daring  is  any  attempt  to  prove,  even  by  a plain  history  of  strange 
occurrences  happening  to  one's  self,  the  actual  existence  of  the 
Supernatural  around  us;  and  the  absolute  certainty  of  a future 
state  of  being,  after  the  passage  through  that  brief  soul-torpor  in 
which  the  body  perishes,  known  to  us  as  Death. 

In  the  present  narration,  which  I have  purposely  called  a “ro- 
mance," I do  not  expect  to  be  believed,  as  I can  only  relate  what  I 
myself  have  experienced.  I know  that  men  and  women  of  to-day 
must  have  proofs,  or  what  they  are  willing  to  accept  as  proofs,  be- 
fore they  will  credit  anything  that  purports  to  be  of  a spiritual 
tendency,  — something  startling  — some  miracle  of  a stupendous 
nature,  such  as  according  to  prophecy  they  are  all  unfit  to  receive. 
Few  will  admit  the  subtle  influence  and  incontestable,  though 
.mysterious,  authority  exercised  upon  their  lives  by  higher  intelli- 
gences than  their  own  — intelligences  unseen,  unknown,  but  felt. 
Yes ! felt  by  the  most  careless,  the  most  cynical ; in  the  uncom- 
fortable prescience  of  danger,  the  inner  forebodings  of  guilt  — the 
moral  and  mental  torture  endured  by  those  who  fight  a protracted 
battle  to  gain  the  hardly-won  victory  in  themselves  of  right  over 
wrong  — in  the  thousand  and  one  sudden  appeals  made  without 
warning  to  that  compass  of  a man's  life.  Conscience  — and  in  those 
brilliant  and  startling  impulses  of  generosity,  bravery,  and  self- 
sacrifice  which  carry  us  on,  heedless  of  consequences,  to  the  per- 
formance of  great  and  noble  deeds,  whose  fame  makes  the  whole 
world  one  resounding  echo  of  glory  — deeds  that  we  wonder  at 
ourselves  even  in  the  performance  of  them  — acts  of  heroism  in 
which' mere  life  goes  for  nothing,  and  the  Soul  for  a brief  space 
is  pre-eminent,  obeying  blindly  the  guiding  influence  of  a some- 
thing akin  to  itself,  yet  higher  in  the  realms  of  Thought. 

We  have  not  space  to  review  the  amazing  story  which 
follows  the  truly  remarkable  introduction  of  which  the 
foregoing  extracts  give  a good  idea.  The  authoress 
proceeds  to  relate  how  the  heroine  of  the  romance 


308 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


was  completely  restored  to  health  from  a condition  of 
extreme  and  protracted  debility  by  spiritual  electric 
methods.  The  narrative  is  delightfully  told,  and  carries 
the  reader  with  it  from  first  to  last.  The  scenes  are 
laid  first  in  Italy,  then  in  Paris.  In  Paris  the  heroine 
meets  a wonderful  electrician,  by  name  Heliobas,” 
who  lives  in  a beautiful  house  fitted  up  with  every 
conceivable  electrical  appliance  for  health,  comfort, 
and  beauty.  His  only  sister,  to  whom  he  is  tenderly 
attached,  lives  with  him.  Between  her  and  Marie 
Corelli’s  charming  heroine  a warm  friendship  springs 
up,  which  continues  to  increase  till  the  gifted  ‘‘Zara” 
passes  to  the  invisible  world.  Her  exit  from  the  mortal 
body  is  electric,  as  everything  of  importance  is  through- 
out the  story.  After  her  departure  from  the  mortal 
form,  she  shows  herself  in  immortal  beauty  to  her 
sorrow-stricken  friend,  who,  immediately  after  the  vis- 
ion, carries  tidings  to  Heliobas,  who  is  being  misjudged 
and  cruelly  insulted  by  a man  of  the  world,  who  had 
been  an  unwelcome  aspirant  for  Zara’s  hand  in  marriage, 
and  who,  after  her  tragic  transition,  heaped  reproaches 
upon  the  noble  and  faithful  brother,  between  whom 
and  his  sister  nothing  but  the  most  loyal  and  loving 
confidence  had  ever  existed. 

As  might  be  expected  in  a work  of  such  exception- 
ally pure  tone  and  ennobling  sentiment  as  “A  Romance 
of  Two  Worlds,”  the  young  lady  who  had  been  the 
recipient  of  a message  from  her  ascended  friend,  suc- 
ceeded by  the  sheer  force  of  spiritual  truth  and  dignity 
to  quell  all  disturbance,  and  make  peace  between  the 
two  men,  one  of  whom  was  so  sorely  tried,  the  other  so 


LECTURE  XV. 


309 


unspeakably  exasperating.  We  affirm  such  incidents 
are  true  to  life,  in  our  own  experience,  though  but 
rarely  we  have  met  grand  natures  whose  royalty  of 
soul  and  spiritual  conquest  over  usual  earthly  limita- 
tions made  them  invincible  when  standing  for  right, 
protesting  against  error.  Skeptics  who  know  nothing 
of  consecration  to  high  ideals  may  laugh  to  scorn  the 
testimony  of  the  ages  to  the  invincible  power  of  right 
when  supremely  trusted  in,  and  courageously  upheld, 
as  those  who  know  not  what  real  prayer  means  may 
revile  that  potent  agent  of  spiritual  strength  and  conso- 
lation, which  is  an  incessant  and  most  faithful  source  of 
lasting  good  to  those  who  employ  it;  but,  despite  the 
mockery  of  the  profane  and  the  cynicism  of  the  con- 
temptuous, in  the  midst  of  humanity  to-day,  spiritual 
works  are  putting  to  shame  all  the  devices  of  iniquity, 
and  the  true  spiritual  worker,  be  it  ever  remembered, 
may  be  a strong  man,  a delicate  woman,  or  a little 
child.  Power  belongs  not  to  coarse  animal  organisms 
which  •generate  in  copious  measure  what  is  generally 
and  appropriately  termed  animal  magnetism^ — a physical 
force  possessed  by  beasts  as  well  as  men,  — but  to  a force 
beyond  all  physical  discernment  or  discovery,  the  power 
of  the  electric  spirit  of  divinity  in  man ; when  this  is 
acknowledged  and  brought  into  requisition,  the  mys- 
teries of  Christian  Science,  Mind  Healing,  etc.,  etc., 
will  all  be  made  plain,  and  the  excellences  of  opposing 
systems  be  found  in  the  truth  that  not  what  a person 
believes  or  professes^  but  what  he  is,  enables  him  to 
accomplish  whatever  good  he  works  for  humanity  in 
seemingly  mysterious  ways.  Teaching  is  always  useful; 


310 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


those  who  proclaim  truth,  even  if  they  live  it  not,  are 
intellectual  benefactors  of  the  race,  for  they  are  venti- 
lating knowledge,  and  thereby  assisting  inquiring  minds 
that  need  a ministry  which  appeals  to  reason ; but  those 
who  would  be  practically,  personally  endowed  with 
healing  grace  must  live  continually  so  as  to  cultivate 
the  divine  and  overcome  the  animal  within  them.  This 
essential  truth  runs  through  all  Marie  Corelli’s  writ- 
ings, entitling  her  to  high  rank  as  a spiritual  helper  of 
mankind. 

We  will  now  present  our  readers  with  some  extracts 
from  “ The  Electric  Creed  ” which  the  heroine  received 
in  manuscript  as  a gift  from  Heliobas : — 

From  all  Eternity  God,  or  the  Supreme  Spirit  of  Light,  existed, 
and  to  all  Eternity  He  will  continue  to  exist.  This  is  plainly 
stated  in  the  New  Testament  thus : ‘‘  God  is  a Spirit,  and  they 
that  worship  Him  must  worship  Him  in  spirit  and  in  truth.” 

He  is  a Shape  of  pure  Electric  Radiance.  Those  who  may  be 
inclined  to  doubt  this  may  search  the  Scriptures  on  which  they  pin 
their  faith,  and  they  will  find  that  all  the  visions  and  appearances 
of  the  Deity  there  chronicled  were  electric  in  character. 

As  a poet  forms  poems,  or  a musician  melodies,  so  God  formed 
by  a Thought  the  Vast  Central  Sphere  in  which  He  dwells,  and 
peopled  it  with  the  pure  creations  of  His  glorious  fancy.  And 
why  ? Because,  being  pure  Light,  He  is  also  pure  Love ; the  power 
or  capacity  of  Love  implies  the  necessity  of  Loving ; the  necessity 
of  loving  points  to  the  existence  of  things  to  be  loved  — hence  the 
secret  of  creation.  From  the  ever- working  Intelligence  of  this 
Divine  Love  proceeded  the  Electric  Circle  of  the  Universe,  from 
whence  are  born  all  worlds. 

This  truth  vaguely  dawned  upon  the  ancient  poets  of  Scripture 
when  they  wrote  : ‘‘  Darkness  was  upon  the  face  of  the  deep.  And 
the  Spirit  of  God  moved  upon  the  face  of  the  waters.  And  God 
said,  Let  there  be  light.  And  there  was  light.” 


LECTURE  XV. 


311 


These  words  apply  solely  to  the  creation  or  production  of  our 
own  Earth,  and  in  them  we  read  nothing  but  a simple  manifesta- 
tion of  electricity,  consisting  in  a heating  passage  of  rays  from  the 
Central  Circle  to  the  planet  newly  propelled  forth  from  it,  which 
caused  that  planet  to  produce  and  multiply  the  wonders  of  the 
animal,  vegetable,  and  mineral  kingdoms  which  we  call  Nature. 

Let  us  now  turn  again  to  the  poet-prophets  of  Scripture : “ And 
God  said.  Let  us  make  man  in  our  image.”  The  word  here 

implies  an  instinctive  idea  that  God  was  never  alone.  This  idea  is 
correct.  Love  cannot  exist  in  a chaos ; and  God  by  the  sheer  ne- 
cessity of  His  Being  has  forever  been  surrounded  by  radiant  and 
immortal  Spirits  emanating  from  His  own  creative  glory  — beings 
in  whom  all  beauty  and  all  purity  are  found.  In  the  images,  there- 
fore (only  the  images'),  of  these  Children  of  Light  and  of  Himself, 
He  made  Man  — that  is.  He  caused  the  Earth  to  be  inhabited  and 
dominated  by  beings  composed  of  Earth’s  component  parts,  animal, 
vegetable,  and  mineral,  giving  them  their  superiority  by  placing 
within  them  His  likeness  ” in  the  form  of  an  electric  flame  or  germ 
of  spiritual  existence  combined  with  its  companion  working-force 
of  'Will-poiver, 

Like  all  flames,  this  electric  spark  can  either  be  fanned  into  a 
fire  or  it  can  be  allowed  to  escape  into  air  — it  can  never  he  de- 
stroyed. It  can  be  fostered  and  educated  till  it  becomes  a living 
Spiritual  Form  of  absolute  beauty  — an  immortal  creature  of 
thought,  memory,  emotion,  and  working  intelligence.  If,  on  the 
contrary,  it  is  neglected  or  forgotten,  and  its  companion  Will  is 
drawn  by  the  weight  of  Earth  to  work  for  earthly  aims  alone,  then 
it  escapes  and  seeks  other  chances  of  development  in  other  forms  on 
other  planets,  while  the  body  it  leaves,  supported  only  hy  physical  sus- 
tenance drawn  from  the  earth  on  which  it  dwells,  becomes  a mere  lump 
of  clay  animated  hy  mere  animal  life  solely,  full  of  inward  ignorance 
and  corruption  and  outward  incapacity.  Of  such  material  are  the 
majority  of  men  composed  hy  their  own  free  will  and  choice,  because 
they  habitually  deaden  the  voice  of  conscience  and  refuse  to  believe 
in  the  existence  of  a spiritual  element  within  and  around  them. 

To  resume : the  Earth  is  one  of  the  smallest  of  planets ; and  not 
only  this,  but,  from  its  position  in  the  Universe,  receives  a less 


312 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


amount  of  direct  influence  from  the  Electric  Circle  than  other 
worlds  more  happily  situated.  Were  men  wise  enough  to  accept 
this  fact,  they  would  foster  to  the  utmost  the  germs  of  electric 
sympathy  within  themselves,  in  order  to  form  a direct  communica- 
tion, or  system  of  attraction,  between  this  planet  and  the  ever- 
widening  Ring,  so  that  some  spiritual  benefit  might  accrue  to  them 
thereby.  But  as  the  ages  roll  on,  their  chances  of  doing  this  dimin- 
ish. The  time  is  swiftly  approaching  when  the  invincible  Law  of 
Absorption  shall  extinguish  Earth  as  easily  as  we  blow  out  the 
flame  of  a candle.  True,  it  may  be  again  reproduced,  and  again 
thrown  out  on  space ; but  then  it  will  be  in  a new  and  grander 
form,  and  will  doubtless  have  more  godlike  inhabitants.  . . . 

Christ’s  death  was  not  a sacrifice;  it  was  simply  a means  of 
confidence  and  communion  with  the  Creator.  A sinless  Spirit 
suffered  to  show  us  how  to  suffer ; lived  on  earth  to  show  us  how 
to  live ; prayed  to  show  us  how  to  pray ; died  to  show  us  how  to 
die ; rose  again  to  impress  strongly  upon  us  that  there  was  in  truth 
a life  beyond  this  one,  for  which  He  strove  to  prepare  our  souls. 
Finally,  by  His  re-ascension  into  Heaven  He  established  that  much 
needed  electric  communication  between  us  and  the  Central  Sphere. 

It  can  be  proved  from  the  statements  of  the  New  Testament 
that  in  Christ  was  an  Embodied  Electric  Spirit.  From  first  to  last 
His  career  was  attended  by  electric  phenomena^  of  which  eight  ex- 
amples are  here  quoted;  and  earnest  students  of  the  matter  can 
find  many  others  if  they  choose  to  examine  for  themselves. 

1.  The  appearance  of  the  Star  and  the  Vision  of  Angels  on  the 
night  of  His  birth . The  Chaldeans  saw  His  “ star  in  the  east,”  and 
they  came  to  worship  Him.  The  Chaldeans  were  always  a learned 
people,  and  electricity  was  an  advanced  science  with  them.  They 
at  once  recognized  the  star  to  be  no  new  planet,  but  simply  a star- 
shaped fiame  flitting  through  space.  They  knew  what  this  meant. 
Observe,  too,  that  they  had  no  doubts  upon  the  point ; they  came 
to  worship  Him,*’  and  provided  themselves  with  gifts  to  offer  to 
this  radiant  Guest,  the  offspring  of  pure  Light.  The  vision  of  the 
angels  appearing  to  the  shepherds  was  simply  a joyous  band  of  the 
Singing  Children  of  the  Electric  Ring,  who  out  of  pure  interest 
and  pleasure  floated  in  sight  of  Earth,  drawn  thither  partly  by  the 


LECTURE  XV. 


313 


already  strong  attractive  influence  of  the  Radiance  that  was  impris- 
oned there  in  the  form  of  the  Babe  of  Bethlehem. 

2.  When  Christ  was  baptized  by  John  the  Baptist,  “ the  heavens 
opened.'* 

3.  The  sympathetic  influence  of  Christ  was  so  powerful  that 
when  He  selected  His  disciples,  He  had  but  to  speak  to  them,  and 
at  the  sound  of  His  voice,  though  they  were  engaged  in  other  busi- 
ness, they  left  all  and  followed  Him." 

4.  Christ’s  body  was  charged  with  electricity.  Thus  he  was 
easily  able  to  heal  sick  and  diseased  persons  by  a touch  or  a look. 
The  woman  who  caught  at  His  garment  in  the  crowd  was  cured  of 
her  long-standing  ailment ; and  we  see  that  Christ  was  aware  of 
His  own  electric  force  by  the  words  He  used  on  that  occasion : 

Who  touched  Me  f For  1 feel  that  some  virtue  is  gone  out  of  Me  " — 
which  is  the  exact  feeling  that  a physical  electrician  experiences  at 
this  day  after  employing  his  powers  on  a subject.  The  raising  of 
Jairus’s  daughter,  of  the  widow’s  son  at  Xain,  and  of  Lazarus,  were 
all  accomplished  by  the  same  means. 

5.  The  walking  on  the  sea  was  a purely  electric  effort,  and  can  he 
accomplished  now  hy  any  one  who  has  cultivated  sufficient  inner  force. 
The  sea  being  full  of  electric  particles  will  support  anybody  suffi- 
ciently and  similarly  charged  — the  two  currents  combining  to 
procure  the  necessary  equilibrium.  Peter,  who  was  able  to  'walk 
a little  way,  lost  his  power  directly  his  will  became  vanquished  by 
fear — because  the  sentiment  of  fear  disperses  electricity,  and  being 
a purely  human  emotion,  does  away  with  spiritual  strength  for  the 
time. 

6.  The  Death  of  Christ  was  attended  by  electric  manifestations 
— by  the  darkness  over  the  land  during  the  Crucifixion ; the  tear- 
ing of  the  temple  veil  in  twain ; and  the  earthquake  which  finally 
ensued. 

7.  The  Resurrection  was  a most  powerful  display  of  electric 
force.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  angel  who  was  found  sitting 
at  the  entrance  of  the  empty  sepulcher  had  a countenance  like 
lightning,"  i.e.  like  electric  flame.  It  must  also  be  called  to  mind 
how  the  risen  Christ  addressed  Mary  Magdalene  : ‘‘  Touch  Me  not, 
for  I am  but  newly  risen ! ” Why  should  she  not  have  touched 


314 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


Him  ? Simply  because  His  strength  then  was  the  strength  of  con- 
centrated in-rushing  currents  of  electricity ; and  to  touch  Him  at 
that  moment  would  have  been  for  Magdalene  instant  death  by 
lightning.  This  effect  of  embodied  electric  force  has  been  shad- 
owed forth  in  the  Greek  legend  of  Apollo,  whose  glory  consumed 
at  a breath  the  mortal  who  dared  to  look  upon  him. 

8.  The  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  by  which  term  is  meant  an 
ever-flowing  current  of  the  inspired  working  Intelligence  of  the 
Creator,  was  purely  electric  in  character : Suddenly  there  came 
a sound  from  Heaven  as  of  a rushing  mighty  wind,  and  it  filled  all 
the  house  where  they  were  sitting.  And  there  appeared  unto  them 
cloven  tongues  like  as  of  fire^  and  sat  upon  each  of  them.”  It  may 
here  be  noted  that  the  natural  electric  flame  is  dual  or  ‘‘  cloven  ” in 
shape. 

For  those  who  have  once  become  aware  of  the  existence  of  the  Cen- 
tral Sphere  and  of  the  Electric  Ring  surrounding  it,  and  who  are  able 
to  realize  to  the  full  the  gigantic  as  well  as  minute  work  performed  by 
the  electric  waves  around  us  and  within  us,  there  can  no  longer  be  any 
doubt  as  to  all  the  facts  of  Christianity,  as  none  of  them,  viewed 
by  the  electric  theory,  are  otherwise  than  in  accordance  with  the 
Creator’s  love  and  sympathy  with  even  the  smallest  portion  of  His 
creation. 

Why  then,  if  Christianity  be  a Divine  Truth,  are  not  all  people 
Christians  ? As  well  ask,  if  music  and  poetry  are  good  things,  why 
all  men  are  not  poets  and  musicians.  Art  seeks  art ; in  like  man- 
ner God  seeks  God  — that  is.  He  seeks  portions  of  His  own  essence 
among  His  creatures.  Christ  Himself  said,  ‘‘  Many  are  called,  but 
few  are  chosen  ” ; and  it  stands  to  reason  that  very  few  souls  will 
succeed  in  becoming  pure  enough  to  enter  the  Central  Sphere  with- 
out hindrance.  Many,  on  leaving  Earth,  will  be  detained  in  the 
Purgatory  of  Air,  where  thousands  of  spirits  work  for  ages,  watch- 
ing over  others,  helping  and  warning  others,  and  in  this  unselfish 
labor  succeed  in  raising  themselves,  little  by  little,  higher  and 
ever  higher,  till  they  at  last  reach  the  longed-for  goal.  It  must  also 
be  remembered  that  not  only  from  Earth  but  from  all  worlds,  re- 
leased souls  seek  to  attain  final  happiness  in  the  Central  Sphere 
where  God  is  ; so  that,  however  great  the  number  of  those  that  are 


LECTURE  XV. 


315 


permitted  to  proceed  thither  from  this  little  planet,  they  can  only 
form,  as  it  were,  one  drop  in  a mighty  ocean.  . . . 

Regarding  the  Electric  Theory  of  Religion,  it  is  curious  to  ob- 
serve how  the  truth  of  it  has  again  and  again  been  dimly  shadowed 
forth  in  the  prophecies  of  Art,  Science,  and  Poesy.  The  old  paint- 
ers wUo  depicted  a halo  of  light  round  the  head  of  their  Virgins 
and  Saints  did  so  out  of  a correct  impulse  which  they  did  not 
hesitate  to  obey.^  The  astronomers  who,  after  years’  study,  have 
been  enabled  to  measure  the  flames  of  the  burning  sun,  and  to 
find  out  that  these  are  from  two  to  four  thousand  miles  high,  are 
nearly  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  it  is  a world  in  a state  of 
conflagration,  in  which  they  will  be  perfectly  right.  Those  who 
hold  that  this  Earth  of  ours  was  once  self-luminous  are  also  right ; 
for  it  was  indeed  so  when  first  projected  from  the  Electric  Ring. 
All  art,  all  prophecy,  all  poesy,  should  therefore  be  accepted  eagerly 
and  studied  earnestly,  for  in  them  we  find  electric  inspiration,  out 
of  which  we  are  able  to  draw  lessons  for  our  guidance  hereafter. 
The  great  point  that  scientists  and  artists  have  hitherto  failed  to 
discover  is  the  existence  of  the  Central  Sphere  and  its  Surrounding 
Electric  Circle.  Once  realize  these  two  great  facts,  and  all  the 
wonders  and  mysteries  of  the  Universe  are  perfectly  easy  of  com- 
prehension. 

In  conclusion,  I offer  no  opinion  as  to  which  is  Christ’s  Church, 
or  the  Fountain-head  of  Spirituality  in  the  world.  In  all  Churches 
errors  have  intruded  through  unworthy  and  hypocritical  members. 
In  a crowded  congregation  of  worshipers  there  may  perhaps  be 
only  one  or  two  who  are  free  from  self-interest  and  personal  vanity. 
In  Sectarianism,  for  instance,  there  is  no  shred  of  Christianity. 
Lovers  of  God  and  followers  of  Christ  must,  in  the  first  place,  have 
perfect  Unity;  and  the  bond  uniting  them  must  be  an  electric 
one  of  love  and  faith.  No  true  Christian  should  be  able  to  hate, 
despise,  or  envy  the  other.  . . . 

Now  I beseech  the  reader  of  this  manuscript  to  which  I,  Helio- 
bas,  append  my  hand  and  seal,  to  remember  and  realize  earnestly 

1 An  impulse  which  led  them  vaguely  to  foresee,  though  not  to 
explain,  the  electric  principle  of  spiritual  life. 


316 


Sa?UDIEb  IN  THEOSOPHY. 

the  following  invincible  facts : first,  that  God  and  His  Christ 
exist;  secondly,  that  while  the  little  paltry  affairs  of  our  temporal 
state  are  being  built  up  as  crazily  as  a child’s  house  of  cards,  the 
huge  Central  Sphere  revolves,  and  the  Electric  Ring,  strong  and 
indestructible,  is  ever  at  its  work  of  production  and  re-absorption ; 
thirdly,  that  every  thought  and  word  of  every  habitant  on  every 
planet  is  reflected  in  lightning  language  before  the  Creator’s  eyes 
as  easily  as  we  receive  telegrams ; fourthly,  that  this  world  is  the 
only  spot  in  the  Universe  where  His  existence  is  actually  questioned 
and  doubted.  And  the  general  spread  of  modern  positivism,  mate- 
rialism, and  atheism,  is  one  of  the  most  terrific  and  meaning  signs 
of  the  times.  The  work  of  separating  the  wheat  from  the  chaff  is 
beginning.  Those  who  love  and  believe  in  God  and  Spiritual 
Beauty  are  about  to  be  placed  on  one  side ; the  millions  who  wor- 
ship Self  are  drawing  together  in  vast  opposing  ranks  on  the  other ; 
and  the  moment  approaches  which  is  prophesied  to  be  ‘‘as  the 
lightning  that  lighteneth  out  of  the  one  part  under  heaven,  and 
shineth  even  to  the  other  part.”  In  other  words,  the  fiery  whirlpool 
of  the  Ring  is  nearly  ready  to  absorb  our  planet  in  its  vortex ; and 
out  of  all  who  dwell  upon  its  surface,  how  many  shall  reach  the 
glorious  Central  World  of  God?  Of  two  men  working  in  the  same 
field,  shall  it  not  be  as  Christ  foretold  — “ the  one  shall  be  taken 
and  the  other  left  ” ? 

Friend,  Pupil,  Reader ! Whoever  thou  art,  take  heed  and  foster 
thine  own  soul ! For  know  that  nothing  can  hinder  the  Immortal 
Germ  within  us  from  taking  the  form  imposed  upon  it  by  our 
Wills,  Through  Love  and  Faith,  it  can  become  an  Angel,  and 
perform  wonders  even  while  in  its  habitation  of  clay ; through  in- 
difference and  apathy,  it  can  desert  us  altogether  and  forever; 
through  mockery  and  blasphemous  disbelief,  it  can  sink  into 
even  a lower  form  than  that  of  a snake  or  toad.  In  our  own 
unfettered  hand  lies  our  eternal  destiny.  Wonderful  and  ter- 
rible responsibility ! Who  shall  dare  to  say  we  have  no  need  of 
prayer?  . . . 

In  making  extracts  from  books  we  cordially  recom- 
mend for  perusal,  we  do  not,  of  course,  pledge  ourselves 


LECTUBE  XV. 


317 


in  the  slightest  degree  to  an  endorsement  of  all  they 
contain.  Our  view  of  literature  is  substantially  that 
taken  by  Matthew  Arnold,  which  is  in  effect,  that  it  is 
a good  thing  to  read  a great  deal  so  as  to  get  acquainted 
as  much  as  possible  with  the  best  thoughts  of  the  best 
thinkers  which  have  found  their  way  into  literature. 
This  acquaintance  the  great  essayist  and  critic  calls 
‘‘culture.”  Now,  in  reviewing  “The  Electric  Creed” 
as  a whole,  or  even  such  portions  of  it  as  we  have  given 
in  this  chapter,  we  might  easily  question  many  of  the 
views  therein  put  forward ; but  as  it  does  not  claim  to 
be  an  infallible  document,  had  we  not  better  leave  each 
reader  to  consider  and  criticise  it  for  himself  or  herself, 
without  attempting  to  analyze  fully  all  its  stupendous 
claims?  As  no  human  mind  can  possibly  form  an  ulti- 
mate idea  of  Deity,  some  may  reasonably  take  mild 
exception  to  some  of  the  expressions  concerning  God ; 
but  are  we  not  obliged  to  clothe  our  best  spiritual  con- 
ceptions in  a proximate  language,  which  may  be  called 
(again  agreeing  with  Matthew  Arnold)  not  the  exact 
language  of  science,  but  the  fluid  language  of  poetry  ? 

One  of  the  grandest  poems  ever  written,  — 

‘‘  O thou  Eternal  One  whose  presence  bright 
All  space  doth  occupy,  all  motion  guide,”  — 

introduces  the  expression, 

“ Though  worthless  our  conceptions  are  of  Thee,” 

at  the  very  time  when  he  is  pouring  forth  his  very  soul 
in  an  ardent  tribute  of  praise  to  the  Eternal  One,  con- 
cerning whose  perfect  goodness,  as  well  as  absolute 
being,  he  entertains  no  doubt.  Let  us  not,  then,  permit 


318 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


a spirit  of  carping  criticism  to  possess  us,  till  we  spurn 
as  false  or  ridiculous  that  which  is  after  all  the  best 
accommodation  of  truth  possible  to  our  weak  under- 
standing. How  few  there  are  who  can  afford  to  dis- 
pense with  every  outward  symbol;  nearly  every  one 
we  meet  requires  something  tangible  to  lay  hold  upon ; 
the  absolute  eternal  infinite  seems  too  remote  to  meet 
the  finite  needs  of  those  who  dwell  amid  countless  limi- 
tations, and  are  themselves  far  less  than  infinite.  Our 
experience  has  taught  us,  and  is  daily  teaching  us  more 
and  more  decidedly,  that  those  who  are  first  to  cry  out 
against  a sublime  metaphor,  or  exalted  symbol,  make 
unto  themselves  idols  of  the  crudest  type;  thus  we 
gladly  welcome  as  a real  help  to  all  who  seek  ennobled 
views  of  life,  anything  and  everything  that  supplants  a 
sordid  image  with  a sublime  one. 

Madame  Blavatsky  said  many  years  ago  in  Isis  Un- 
veiled,” that  she  had  gazed  on  Gustave  Dora’s  wonderful 
picture  of  the  Trinity,  feeling  all  the  while  that  the 
awful  silent  chaos  in  the  background  spoke  more  of  the 
eternal  than  the  three  quite  ordinary,  though  exceed- 
ingly well  executed  figures  intended  to  represent  Father, 
Son,  and  Holy  Spirit.  Does  not  the  litany  of  the 
Church  of  England,  which  is  also  the  litany  of  the 
Episcopal  Church  in  America,  address  three  persons  — 
and  one  God  ? Who  and  what  is  the  one  God  beyond 
the  three  persons,  but  the  nameless  ineffable  Para- 
Brahm  of  Oriental  Theosophy  ? 

With  reference  to  the  idea  of  Christ  so  stoutly  main- 
tained in  The  Electric  Creed,”  it  is  one  of  those  great 
ideas  which  must  ever  transcend  every  attempt  at 


LECTURE  Xy. 


319 


explicit  definition.  In  the  exquisite  model  of  divine 
humanity  presented  by  the  Christian  evangelists  we 
recognize  a faultless  type  of  man : yes,  faultless ; we 
reiterate  the  word  despite  all  the  puerile  attempts  made 
by  the  learned  and  illiterate  alike  to  find  flaws  in  the 
matchless  character  of  the  world’s  greatest  Saviour.  The 
pattern  life  is  perfect,  as  we  should  all  find  out  did  we 
attempt  to  make  it  the  model  of  our  own.  We  may 
insult  the  loftiest  ideal  of  manly  purity  as  much  as  we 
will,  but  ever  to  our  own  detriment,  for  the  world  to-day 
is  sick,  sad,  and  sinful  just  to  the  extent  of  its  departure 
from  the  perfect  model  exhibited  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment. We  care  nothing  for  genealogies  and  other 
doubtful  points,  but  we  will  stand  for  the  unanswerable 
truth  that  were  the  exact  precepts  of  Jesus  made  the 
foundation  of  all  our  conduct,  the  world  would  soon 
become  the  lovely  paradise  it  never  can  be  till  this  is 
the  rule  of  action.  Count  Tolstoi,  the  eminent  Russian 
philanthropist,  has  said  none  too  much,  and  spoken  none 
too  strongly  on  this  subject,  and  while  we  do  not 
commit  ourselves,  by  any  means,  to  all  his  theories  of 
political  economy,  many  of  which  are  no  doubt  better 
adapted  to  Russia  than  to  other  countries,  we  do  endorse 
to  the  full  every  word  he  has  written  concerning  the 
gospels  as  containing  a rule  of  life,  which,  if  exactly 
followed,  would  redress  all  wrongs,  and  bring  the 
entire  human  family  into  perfect  harmony  in  all  its 
members. 

As  it  would  be  quite  useless  for  us  to  endeavor  to 
review  this  marvelous  electric  philosophy  in  detail  with- 
out occupying  at  least  a volume,  and  knowing  at  the 


320 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


same  time  that  no  words  of  ours  can  set  it  forth  as  fasci- 
natingly as  it  is  proclaimed  in  the  book  under  review, 
we  will  here  introduce  a few  more  choice  extracts  from 
the  “ Romance.” 

The  following  is  a very  greatly  curtailed  account  of 
one  of  the  most  striking  spiritual  experiences  Ave  have 
ever  encountered  in  literature  or  heard  from  human  lips  ; 
the  scientific  views  it  advances  must  be  of  interest  to  all 
who  would  study  the  objects  of  life.  Before  the  hero- 
ine’s spiritual  voyage  through  space,  this  conversation 
takes  place  between  her  and  Heliobas : — 

‘‘  I have  a few  serious  things  to  say  to  you  before  you  leave  me 
on  your  celestial  journey.” 

I trembled  slightly,  but  took  the  chair  he  pointed  out  to  me  — 
a large  easy-chair  in  which  one  could  recline  and  sleep. 

‘‘Listen,”  continued  Heliobas;  “I  told  you,  when  you  first  came 
here,  that  whatever  I might  do  to  restore  you  to  health,  you  would 
have  it  in  your  power  to  repay  me  amply.  You  are  restored  to 
health ; will  you  give  me  my  reward  ? ” 

“ I would  and  will  do  anything  to  prove  my  gratitude  to  you,”  I 
said  earnestly.  “ Only  tell  me  how.” 

“You  are  aware,”  he  went  on,  “of  my  theories  respecting  the 
Electric  Spirit  or  Soul  in  Man.  It  is  progressive,  as  I have  told 
you  — it  begins  as  a germ  — it  goes  on  increasing  in  power  and 
beauty  forever,  till  it  is  great  and  pure  enough  to  enter  the 
last  of  all  worlds  — God^s  world.  But  there  are  sometimes  hin- 
drances to  its  progression  — obstacles  in  its  path,  which  cause  it  to 
recoil  and  retire  a long  way  back  — so  far  back  occasionally  that 
it  has  to  commence  its  journey  over  again.  Now,  by  my  earnest 
researches,  I am  able  to  study  and  watch  the  progress  of  my  own 
inner  force  or  soul.  So  far,  all  has  been  well  — prayerfully  and 
humbly  I may  say  I believe  all  has  been  well.  But  I foresee  an 
approaching  shadow — a difliculty — a danger  — which,  if  it  can- 
not be  repelled  or  passed  in  some  way,  threatens  to  violently  push 


LECTURE  XV. 


321 


back  my  advancing  spiritual  nature,  so  that,  with  much  grief  and 
pain,  I shall  have  to  recommence  the  work  that  I had  hoped  was 
done.  I cannot,  with  all  my  best  effort,  discover  what  this  darken- 
ing obstacle  is  — but  you,  yes,  you^'  — for  I had  started  up  in  sur- 
prise — “ you,  when  you  are  lifted  up  high  enough  to  behold  these 
things,  may,  being  perfectly  unselfish  in  this  research,  attain  to 
the  knowledge  of  it,  and  explain  it  to  me  when  you  return.  In 
trying  to  probe  the  secret  for  myself,  it  is  of  course  purely  for  my 
ovm  interest ; and  nothing  clear,  nothing  satisfactory  can  he  spiritually 
obtained,  in  which  selfishness  has  ever  so  slight  a share.  You,  if  indeed 
I deserve  your  gratitude  for  the  aid  I have  given  you  — you  will  be 
able  to  search  out  the  matter  more  certainly,  being  in  the  position 
of  one  soul  working  for  another.  Still,  I cannot  compel  you  to  do 
this  for  me  — I only  ask,  will  you  ? ’’ 

His  entreating  and  anxious  tone  touched  me  keenly ; but  I was 
amazed  and  perplexed,  and  could  not  yet  realize  what  strange 
thing  was  going  to  happen  to  me.  But  whatever  occurred  I was 
resolved  to  give  a ready  consent  to  his  request ; therefore  I said 
firmly : — 

“ I will  do  my  best,  I promise  you.  Remember  that  I do  not 
know,  I cannot  even  guess  where  I am  going,  or  what  strange  sen- 
sations will  overcome  me ; but  if  I am  permitted  to  have  any 
recollection  of  earth  at  all,  I will  try  to  find  out  what  you  ask.” 

Heliobas  seemed  satisfied,  and  rising  from  his  chair,  unlocked  a 
heavily  bound  iron  safe.  From  this  he  took  a glass  flask  of  a 
strange,  ever-moving,  glittering  fluid,  the  same  in  appearance  as 
that  which  Raffaelo  Cellini  had  forbidden  me  to  drink.  He  then 
paused  and  looked  searchingly  at  me. 

“ Tell  me,”  he  said  in  an  authoritative  tone,  “ tell  me  why  you 
wish  to  see  what  to  mortals  is  unseen  V What  motive  have  you  ? 
What  ulterior  plan  ? ” 

I hesitated.  Then  I gathered  my  strength  together  and  an- 
swered decisively : — 

‘‘  I desire  to  know  why  this  world,  this  universe,  exists ; and  I 
also  wish  to  prove,  if  possible,  the  truth  and  necessity  of  religion. 
And  I think  I would  give  my  life,  if  it  were  worth  anything,  to  be 
certain  of  the  truth  of  Christianity.” 


322 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


Ileliobas  gazed  in  my  face  with  a sort  of  half-pity,  half- 
censure. 

You  have  a daring  aim,’’  he  said  slowly,  ‘‘and  you  are  a bold 
seeker.  But  shame,  repentance,  and  sorrow  aw^ait  you  where  you 
are  going,  as  well  as  rapture  and  amazement.  ‘ 1 would  give  my  life, 
if  it  were  worth  anything  ' That  utterance  has  saved  you  — other- 
wise to  soar  into  an  unexplored  wilderness  of  spheres,  weighted  by 
your  own  doubts  and  guided  solely  by  your  own  wild  desires,  would 
be  a fruitless  journey.” 

I felt  abashed  as  I met  his  steady  scrutinizing  eyes. 

“ Surely  it  is  well  to  wish  to  know  the  reason  of  things  ? ” I 
asked,  with  some  timidity. 

“The  desire  of  knowledge  is  a great  virtue,  certainly,”  he 
replied;  “it  is  not  truly  felt  by  one  in  a thousand.  Most  persons 
are  content  to  live  and  die,  absorbed  in  their  own  petty,  common- 
place affairs,  without  troubling  themselves  as  to  the  reasons  of 
their  existence.  Yet  it  is  almost  better,  like  these,  to  wallow  in 
blind  ignorance  than  wantonly  to  doubt  the  Creator  because  He  is 
unseen,  or  to  put  a self-opinionated  construction  on  His  mysteries 
because  He  chooses  to  vail  them  from  our  eyes.” 

“ I do  not  doubt ! ” I exclaimed  earnestly,  “ I only  want  to  make 
sure,  and  then  perhaps  I may  persuade  others.” 

“ You  can  never  compel  faith,”  said  Heliobas  calmly.  “ You 
are  going  to  see  wonderful  things  that  no  tongue  or  pen  can  ade- 
quately describe.  Well,  when  you  return  to  earth  again,  do  you 
suppose  you  can  make  people  believe  the  story  of  your  experiences  ? 
Never ! Be  thankful  if  you  are  the  possessor  of  a secret  joy  your- 
self, and  do  not  attempt  to  impart  it  to  others,  who  will  only  repel 
and  mock  you.” 

“Not  even  to  one  other?”  I asked  hesitatingly. 

A warm,  kindly  smile  seemed  to  illuminate  his  face  as  I put 
this  question. 

“ Yes,  to  one  other  — the  other  half  of  yourself  — you  may  tell 
all  things,”  he  said.  “ But  now,  no  more  converse.  If  you  are 
quite  ready,  drink  this.” 

He  held  out  to  me  a small  tumbler  filled  with  the  sparkling, 
volatile  liquid  he  had  poured  from  the  flask.  For  one  moment  my 


LECTURE  XV. 


323 


courage  almost  forsook  me,  and  an  icy  shiver  ran  through  my 
veins.  Then  I bethought  myself  of  all  my  boasted  bravery;  was 
it  possible  that  I should  fail  now  at  this  critical  moment  ? I al- 
lowed myself  no  more  time  for  reflection,  but  took  the  glass  from 
his  hand  and  drained  its  contents  to  the  last  drop.  It  was  taste- 
less, but  sparkling  and  warm  on  the  tongue.  Scarcely  had  I 
swallowed  it,  when  a curiously  light,  dizzy  sensation  overcame  me, 
and  the  figure  of  Heliobas  standing  before  me  seemed  to  assume 
gigantic  proportions.  I saw  his  hands  extend  — his  eyes,  like 
lamps  of  electric  flame,  burned  through  and  through  me  — and 
like  a distant  echo,  I heard  the  deep  vibrating  tones  of  his  voice 
uttering  the  following  words  : — 

Aziil ! Aziil ! Lift  up  this  light  and  daring  spirit  unto  thyself ; 
be  its  pioneer  upon  the  path  it  must  pursue ; suffer  it  to  float  un- 
trammeled through  the  wide  and  glorious  Continents  of  Air ; give 
it  form  and  force  to  alight  on  any  of  the  vast  and  beautiful  spheres 
it  may  desire  to  behold ; and  if  worthy,  permit  it  to  gaze,  if  only 
for  a brief  interval,  upon  the  supreme  vision  of  the  First  and  Last 
of  worlds.  By  the  force  thou  givest  unto  me,  I free  this  soul ; do 
thou,  Aziil,  quickly  receive  it ! ” 

A dense  darkness  now  grew  thickly  around  me  — I lost  all  power 
over  my  limbs  — 1 felt  myself  being  lifted  up  forcibly  and  rapidly, 
up,  up,  into  some  illimitable,  terrible  space  of  blackness  and  noth- 
ingness. I could  not  think,  move,  or  cry  out  — I could  only  feel 
that  I was  rising,  rising,  steadily,  swiftly,  breathlessly  . . . when 
suddenly  a long  quivering  flash  of  radiance,  like  the  fragment  of  a 
rainbow,  struck  dazzlingly  across  my  sight.  Darkness  ? What  had 
I to  do  with  darkness  ? I knew  not  the  word  — I was  only  con- 
scious of  light  — light  exquisitely  pure  and  brilliant  — light  through 
which  I stepped  as  easily  as  a bird  flies  in  air.  Perfectly  awake  to 
my  sensations,  I felt  somehow  that  there  was  nothing  remarkable 
in  them  — I seemed  to  be  at  home  in  some  familiar  element.  Deli- 
cate hands  held  mine  — a face  far  lovelier  than  the  loveliest  face  of 
woman  ever  dreamed  by  poet  or  painter  smiled  radiantly  at  me, 
and  I smiled  back  again.  A voice  whispered  in  strange  musical 
murmurs,  such  as  I well  seemed  to  know  and  comprehend : — 

Gaze  behind  thee  ere  the  picture  fades.’’ 


824 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY.  ' 


I obeyed,  half  reluctantly,  and  saw  as  a passing  shadow  in  a 
glass,  or  a sort  of  blurred  miniature  painting,  the  room  where 
Heliobas  stood,  watching  some  strange  imperfect  shape,  which  I 
seemed  faintly  to  recognize.  It  looked  like  a small  cast  in  clay, 
very  badly  executed,  of  the  shape  I at  present  wore;  but  it  was 
incomplete,  as  though  the  sculptor  had  given  it  up  as  a failure  and 
gone  away,  leaving  it  unfinished. 

Did  I dwell  in  that  body  ? I mused  to  myself,  as  I felt  the 
perfection  of  my  then  state  of  being.  How  came  I shut  in  such 
a prison  ? How  poor  a form  — how  destitute  of  faculties  — how 
full  of  infirmities  — how  limited  in  capabilities  — how  narrow  in 
all  intelligence  — how  ignorant  — how  mean  ! 

And  I turned  for  relief  to  the  shining  companion  who  held  me, 
and  obeying  an  impulse  suddenly  imparted,  I felt  myself  floating 
higher  and  higher  till  the  last  limits  of  the  atmosphere  surround- 
ing the  Earth  were  passed,  and  fields  of  pure  and  cloudless  ether 
extended  before  us.  Here  we  met  myriads  of  creatures  like  our- 
selves, all  hastening  in  various  directions  — all  lovely  and  radiant 
as  a dream  of  the  fairies.  Some  of  these  beings  were  quite  tiny 
and  delicate  — some  of  lofty  stature  and  glorious  appearance ; their 
forms  were  human,  yet  so  refined,  improved,  and  perfected,  that 
they  were  unlike,  while  so  like  humanity. 

Askest  thou  nothing?”  whispered  the  voice  beside  me. 

“ Tell  me,”  I answered,  what  I must  know.” 

These  spirits  that  we  behold,”  went  on  the  voice,  “ are  the 
guardians  of  all  the  inhabitants  of  all  the  planets.  Their  labors 
are  those  of  love  and  penitence.  Their  work  is  to  draw^  other  souls 
to  God  — to  attract  them  by  warnings,  by  pleading,  by  praying. 
They  have  all  worn  the  garb  of  mortality  themselves,  and  they 
teach  mortals  by  their  own  experience.  For  these  radiant  creatures 
are  expiating  sins  of  their  own  in  thus  striving  to  save  others  — 
the  oftener  they  succeed  the  nearer  they  approach  to  Heaven. 
This  is  what  is  vaguely  understood  on  your  earth  as  purgatory ; 
the  sufferings  of  spirits  who  love  and  long  for  the  presence  of  their 
Creator,  and  who  yet  are  not  pure  enough  to  approach  Him.  Only 
by  serving  and  saving  others  can  they  obtain  at  last  their  own  joy. 
Every  act  of  ingratitude  and  forgetfulness  and  wickedness  com- 


LECTURE  XV. 


325 


mitted  by  a mortal,  detains  one  or  another  of  these  patient  workers 
longer  away  from  Heaven  — imagine  then  what  a weary  while 
many  of  them  have  to  wait ! ” 

I made  no  answer,  and  we  floated  on.  Higher  and  higher  — 
higher  and  higher  — till  at  last  my  guide,  whom  I knew  to  be  that 
being  whom  Heliobas  had  called  Aziil,  bade  me  pause.  We  were 
floating  close  together  in  what  seemed  a sea  of  translucent  light. 
From  this  point  I could  learn  something  of  the  mighty  workings 
of  the  Universe.  I gazed  upon  countless  solar  systems,  that  like 
wheels  within  wheels  revolved  with  such  rapidity  that  they  seemed 
all  one  wheel.  I saw  planets  whirl  around  and  around  with  breath- 
less swiftness,  like  glittering  balls  flung  through  the  air  — burning 
comets  flared  fiercely  past  like  torches  of  alarm  for  God's  war 
against  Evil  — a marvelous  procession  of  indescribable  wonders 
sweeping  on  forever  in  circles,  grand,  huge,  and  immeasurable. 
And  as  I watched  the  superb  pageant,  I was  not  startled  or  con- 
fused — I looked  upon  it  as  any  one  might  look  on  any  quiet  land- 
scape scene  in  what  we  know  of  Nature.  I scarcely  could  perceive 
the  Earth  from  whence  I had  come  — so  tiny  a speck  was  it  — 
nothing  but  a mere  pin's  point  in  the  burning  whirl  of  immensi- 
ties. I felt,  however,  perfectly  conscious  of  a superior  force  in 
myself  to  all  these  enormous  forces  around  me.  I knew  without 
needing  any  explanation  that  I was  formed  of  an  indestructible 
essence,  and  that  were  all  these  stars  and  systems  suddenly  to  end 
in  one  fell  burst  of  brilliant  horror,  I should  still  exist  — I should 
know  and  remember  and  feel  — should  be  able  to  watch  the  birth 
of  a new  Universe,  and  take  my  part  in  its  growth  and  design. 

“ Remind  me  why  these  wonders  exist,"  I said,  turning  to  my 
guide,  and  speaking  in  those  dulcet  sounds  which  were  like  music 
and  yet  like  speech ; ‘‘  and  why  amid  them  all  the  Earth  is  believed 
by  its  inhabitants  to  have  merited  destruction,  and  yet  to  have 
been  found  worthy  of  redemption  ? " 

Thy  last  question  shall  be  answered  first,"  replied  Aziil. 
‘‘  Seest  thou  yonder  planet  circled  with  a ring  ? It  is  known  to  the 
dwellers  on  Earth,  of  whom  when  in  clay  thou  art  one,  as  Saturn. 
Descend  with  me  ! " 

And  in  a breath  of  time  we  floated  downward  and  alighted  on 


326 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


a broad  and  beautiful  plain,  where  flowers  of  strange  shape  and 
color  grew  in  profusion.  Here  we  were  met  by  creatures  of  lofty 
stature  and  dazzling  beauty,  human  in  shape,  yet  angelic  in  coun- 
tenance. They  knelt  to  us  with  reverence  and  joy,  and  then 
passed  on  to  their  toil  or  pleasure,  whichever  invited  them,  and  I 
looked  to  Aziil  for  explanation. 

To  these  children  of  the  Creator,”  said  that  radiant  guide,  is 
granted  the  ability  to  see  and  to  converse  with  the  spirits  of  the 
air.  They  know  them  and  love  them,  and  implore  their  protection. 
In  this  planet  sickness  and  old  age  are  unknown,  and  death  comes 
as  a quiet  sleep.  The  period  of  existence  is  about  two  hundred 
years,  according  to  the  Earth’s  standard  of  time;  and  the  process 
of  decay  is  no  more  unlovely  than  the  gentle  withering  of  roses. 
The  influence  of  the  electric  belt  around  their  world  is  a bar  to 
pestilence  and  disease,  and  scatters  health  with  light.  All  sciences, 
arts,  and  inventions  known  on  Earth  are  known  here,  only  to 
greater  perfection.  The  three  important  differences  between  the 
inhabitants  of  this  planet  and  those  who  dwell  on  Earth  are  these : 
first,  they  have  no  rulers  in  authority,  as  each  one  perfectly  governs 
himself ; second,  they  do  not  marry,  as  the  law  of  attraction  which 
draws  together  any  two  of  opposite  sexes,  holds  them  fast  in  invio- 
lable fidelity ; thirdly,  there  is  no  creature  in  all  the  immensity  of 
this  magnificent  sphere  who  has  ever  doubted,  or  whoever  will 
doubt,  the  existence  of  the  Creator.” 

A thrill  of  fiery  shame  seemed  to  dart  through  my  spiritual 
being  as  I heard  this,  and  I made  no  answer.  Some  fairy-like  little 
creatures,  the  children  of  the  Saturnites,  as  I supposed,  here  came 
running  towards  us  and  knelt  down,  reverently  clasping  their 
hands  in  prayer.  They  then  gathered  flowers  and  flung  them  on 
that  portion  of  ground  where  we  stood,  and  gazed  at  us  fearlessly 
and  lovingly,  as  they  might  have  gazed  at  some  rare  bird  or 
butterfly. 

Aziil  signed  to  me,  and  we  rose  while  yet  in  their  sight,  and 
soaring  through  the  radiance  of  the  ring,  which  was  like  a sun 
woven  into  a circle,  we  soon  left  Saturn  far  behind  us,  and  alighted 
on  Yenus.  Here  seas,  mountains,  forests,  lakes,  and  meadows 
were  one  vast  garden,  in  which  the  bloom  and  verdure  of  all  worlds 


LECTTTRE  XV. 


327 


seemed  to  find  a home.  Here  were  realized  the  dreams  of  sculp- 
tors and  painters,  in  the  graceful  forms  and  exquisite  faces  of  the 
women,  and  the  splendid  strength  and  godlike  beauty  of  the  men. 
A brief  glance  was  sufficient  to  show  me  that  the  moving  spring  of 
all  the  civilization  of  this  radiant  planet  was  the  love  of  Nature 
and  Art  united.  There  were  no  wars  — for  there  were  no  different 
nations.  All  the  inhabitants  were  like  one  vast  family  ; they 
worked  for  one  another,  and  vied  with  each  other  in  paying 
homage  to  those  of  the  loftiest  genius  among  them.  They  had  one 
supreme  Monarch  to  whom  they  all  rendered  glad  obedience ; and 
he  was  a Poet,  ready  to  sacrifice  his  throne  with  joy  as  soon  as  his 
people  should  discover  a greater  than  he.  For  they  all  loved  not 
the  artist  but  the  Art ; and  selfishness  was  a vice  unknown.  Here, 
none  loved  or  were  wedded  save  those  who  had  spiritual  sympa- 
thies, and  here  too,  no  creature  existed  who  did  not  believe  in  and 
worship  the  Creator. 

The  same  state  of  things  existed  in  Jupiter,  the  planet  we  next 
visited,  where  everything  was  performed  by  electricity.  Here,  per- 
sons living  hundreds  of  miles  apart  could  yet  converse  together 
with  perfect  ease  through  an  electric  medium  ; ships  ploughed  the 
seas  by  electricity ; printing,  an  art  of  which  the  dwellers  on  Earth 
are  so  proud,  was  accomplished  by  electricity  — in  fact  everything 
in  the  way  of  science,  art,  and  invention  known  to  us  was  also 
known  in  Jupiter,  only  to  greater  perfection,  because  tempered  and 
strengthened  by  an  electric  force  which  never  failed.  From  Jupi- 
ter, Azul  guided  me  to  many  other  fair  and  splendid  worlds  — yet 
none  of  them  were  Paradise;  all  had  some  slight  drawback — some 
physical  or  spiritual  ailment  as  it  were,  which  had  to  be  combated 
with  and  conquered.  All  the  inhabitants  of  each  star  longed  for 
something  they  had  not,  — something  better,  greater,  and  higher,  — 
and  therefore  all  had  discontent.  They  could  not  realize  their  best 
desires  in  the  state  of  existence  they  then  were,  therefore  they  all 
suffered  disappointment.  They  were  all  compelled  to  work  in 
some  way  or  another ; they  were  all  doomed  to  die.  Yet,  unlike 
the  dwellers  on  Earth,  they  did  not,  because  their  lives  were  more 
or  less  constrained  and  painful,  complain  of  or  deny  the  goodness 
of  God  — on  the  contrary,  they  believed  in  a future  state  which 


328 


STUDIES  IK  THEOSOPHY. 


should  be  as  perfect  as  their  present  one  was  imperfect ; and  the 
chief  aim  and  object  of  all  their  labors  was  to  become  wwthy  of 
attaining  that  final  grand  result  — Eternal  Happiness  and  Peace. 

“ Readest  thou  the  lesson  in  these  glowing  spheres,  teeming  with 
life  and  learning?’^  murmured  Aziil  to  me,  as  we  soared  swiftly  on 
together.  Know  that  not  one  smallest  world  in  all  the  myriad 
systems  circling  before  thee  holds  a single  human  creature  who 
doubts  his  Maker.  Kot  one  ! except  thine  own  doomed  star ! Be- 
hold it  yonder  — sparkling  feebly,  like  a faint  flame  amid  sunshine 
— how  poor  a speck  it  is  — how  like  a scarcely  visible  point  in  all 
the  brilliancy  of  the  ever-revolving  wheel  of  Life ! Yet  there  dwell 
the  dwarfs  of  clay  — the  men  and  women  who  pretend  to  love 
while  they  secretly  hate  and  despise  one  another.  There,  wealth 
is  a god,  and  the  greed  of  gain^  a virtue.  There,  genius  starves, 
and  heroism  dies  unrewarded.  There,  faith  is  martyred,  and  un- 
belief elected  sovereign  monarch  of  the  people.  There,  the  sub- 
lime, unreachable  mysteries  of  the  Universe  are  haggled  over  by 
poor  finite  minds  who  cannot  call  their  lives  their  own.  There, 
nation  wars  against  nation,  creed  against  creed,  soul  against  soul. 
Alas,  fated  planet ! how  soon  shalt  thou  be  extinct,  and  thy  place 
shall  know  thee  no  more  ! ” 

I gazed  earnestly  at  my  radiant  guide.  ‘‘  If  that  is  true,”  I 
said,  “ why  then  should  we  have  a legend  that  God,  in  the  person 
of  one  called  Christ,  came  to  die  for  so  miserable  and  mean  a race 
of  beings?” 

Azul  answered  not,  bujb  turned  her  luminous  eyes  upon  me  with 
a sort  of  wide,  dazzling  wonder.  Some  strange  impelling  force 
bore  me  onward,  and  before  I could  realize  it  I was  alone.  Alone, 
in  a vast  area  of  light  through  which  I floated,  serene  and  con- 
scious of  power.  A sound  falling  from  a great  height  reached  me  ; 
it  was  first  like  a grand  organ-chord,  and  then  like  a voice,  trumpet- 
clear  and  far-echoing. 

‘‘  Spirit  that  searchest  for  the  Unseen,”  it  said,  ‘‘  because  I will 
not  that  one  atom  of  true  worth  should  perish,  unto  thee  shall 
be  given  a vision  — unto  thee  shall  be  taught  a lesson  thou 
dreamest  not  of.  Thou  shalt  create;  thou  shalt  design  and  plan; 
thou  shalt  be  worshiped,  and  thou  shalt  destroy ! Rest  therefore 


LECTUKE  XV. 


329 


in  the  light  and  behold  the  things  that  are  in  the  light,  for  the  time 
cometh  when  all  that  seemeth  clear  and  visible  now  shall  be  but 
darkness.  And  they  that  love  me  not  shall  have  no  place  of  abode 
in  that  hour ! ’’ 

The  voice  ceased.  Awed,  yet  consoled,  I listened  for  it  again. 
There  was  no  more  sound.  Around  me  was  illimitable  light,  il- 
limitable silence.  But  a strange  scene  unfolded  itself  swiftly 
before  me  — a sort  of  shifting  dream  that  was  a reality,  yet  so 
wonderfully  unreal — a vision  that  impressed  itself  on  every  por- 
tion of  my  intelligence;  a kind  of  spirit-drama  in  which  I was 
forced  to  enact  the  chief  part,  and  where  a mystery  that  I had 
deemed  impenetrable  was  made  perfectly  clear  and  simple  of  com- 
prehension. 

What  follows  is  somewhat  theological  in  character, 
and  may  provoke  dissent  among  many  who  claim  much 
illumination.  We  cannot  abbreviate  it  without  marring 
its  beauty,  and  therefore  refer  the  reader  to  the  book 
itself.  After  the  heroine  returns  from  her  wonderful 
journey,  Heliobas  addresses  her  thus  : — 

“When  you  have  educated  your  Will  to  a certain  height  of 
electric  command,  you  can  at  your  pleasure  see  at  any  time,  and 
see  plainly,  the  spirits  who  inhabit  the  air;  and  also  those  who, 
descending  to  long  distances  below  the  Great  Circle,  come  within 
the  range  of  human  electricity,  or  the  attractive  matter  contained 
in  the  Earth’s  atmosphere.  You  can  converse  with  them,  and  they 
with  you.  You  will  also  be  able,  at  your  desire,  to  see  the  parted 
spirits  of  dead  persons  so  long  as  they  linger  within  Earth’s  radius, 
which  they  seldom  do,  being  always  anxious  to  escape  from  it  as 
soon  as  possible.  Love  may  sometimes  detain  them,  or  remorse ; 
but  even  these  have  to  yield  to  the  superior  longings  which  possess 
them  the  instant  they  are  set  free.  You  will,  in  your  intercourse 
with  your  fellow-mortals,  be  able  to  discern  their  motives  quickly 
and  unerringly  — you  will  at  once  discover  where  you  are  loved 
and  where  you  are  disliked ; and  not  all  the  learning  and  logic  of 


330 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


so-called  philosophers  shall  be  able  to  cloud  your  instinct.  You 
will  have  a keener  appreciation  of  good  and  beautiful  things  — a 
delightful  sense  of  humor,  and  invariable  cheerfulness ; and  what- 
ever you  do,  unless  you  make  some  mistake  by  your  own  folly,  will 
carry  with  it  its  success.  And,  what  is  perhaps  a greater  privilege, 
you  will  find  that  all  who  are  brought  into  very  close  contact  with 
you  will  be  beneficially  influenced,  or  the  reverse,  exactly  as  you 
choose  to  exert  your  power.  I do  not  think,  after  what  you  have 
seen,  you  will  ever  desire  to  exert  a malign  influence,  knowing  that 
the  Creator  of  your  being  is  all  love  and  forgiveness.  At  any  rate, 
the  greatest  force  in  the  universe,  electricity,  is  yours  — that  is,  it 
has  begun  to  form  itself  in  you  — and  you  have  nothing  to  do  but 
to  encourage  its  growth,  just  as  you  would  encourage  a taste  for 
music  or  the  fine  arts.  . . . 

‘‘  Look  out  yonder,”  he  said,  in  low  and  earnest  tones ; look  at 
the  dark  blue  veil  strewn  with  stars,  through  which  so  lately  your 
daring  soul  pierced  its  flight ! See  how  the  small  Moon  hangs  like 
a lamp  in  Heaven,  apparently  outshining  the  myriad  worlds  around 
her,  that  are  so  much  vaster  and  fairer!  How  deceptive  is  the 
human  eye ! — nearly  as  deceptive  as  the  human  reason.  Tell  me 
— why  did  you  not  visit  the  Moon,  or  the  Sun,  in  your  recent 
wanderings  ? ” 

This  question  caused  me  some  surprise.  It  was  certainly  very 
strange  that  I had  not  thought  of  doing  so.  Yet,  on  pondering  the 
matter  in  my  mind,  I remembered  that  during  my  aerial  journey 
suns  and  moons  had  been  no  more  to  me  than  flowers  strewn  on 
a meadow.  I now  regretted  that  I had  not  sought  to  know 
something  of  those  two  fair  luminaries  which  light  and  warm 
our  earth. 

Heliobas,  after  watching  my  face  intently,  resumed  : “You  can- 
not guess  the  reason  of  your  omission  ? I will  tell  you.  There  is 
nothing  to  see  in  either  Sun  or  Moon.  They  were  both  inhabited 
worlds  once ; but  the  dwellers  in  the  Sun  have  ages  ago  lived  their 
lives  and  passed  to  the  Central  Sphere.  The  Sun  is  nothing  now 
but  a burning  world,  burning  rapidly  and  surely  away ; or,  rather, 
it  is  being  absorbed  back  into  the  Electric  Circle  from  which  it  origi- 
nally sprang^  to  be  thrown  out  again  in  some  new  and  grander  form. 


LECTURE  XV. 


331 


And  so  with  all  worlds,  suns,  and  systems,  forever  and  ever. 
Hundreds  of  thousands  of  those  brief  time-breathings,  called  years, 
may  pass  before  this  consummation  of  the  Sun ; but  its  destruc- 
tion is  going  on  now,  or  rather  its  absorption  — and  we,  on  our 
cold,  small  star,  warm  ourselves,  and  are  glad,  in  the  light  of  an 
empty  world  on  fire ! ’’ 

I listened  with  awe  and  interest.  “And  the  Moon?”  I asked 
eagerly. 

“The  Moon  does  not  exist.  What  we  see  is  the  reflection  or 
the  electrograpli  of  what  she  once  was.  Atmospherical  electricity 
has  imprinted  this  picture  of  a long-ago  living  world  upon  the 
heavens,  just  as  Raphael  drew  his  cartoons  for  the  men  of  to-day 
to  see.” 

“ But,”  I exclaimed  in  surprise,  “ how  about  the  Moon’s  influence 
on  the  tides  ? and  what  of  eclipses  ? ” 

“Not  the  Moon,  but  the  electric  photograph  of  a once  living 
but  now  absorbed  world,  has  certainly  an  influence  on  the  tides. 
The  sea  is  impregnated  with  electricity.  Just  as  the  Sun  will 
absorb  colors,  so  the  electricity  in  the  sea  is  repelled  or  attracted 
by  the  electric  picture  of  the  Moon  in  Heaven.  Because,  as  a 
painting  is  full  of  color,  so  is  that  faithful  sketch  of  a vanished 
sphere,  drawn  with  a pencil  of  pure  light,  full  of  immense  elec- 
tricity ; and  to  carry  the  simile  further,  just  as  a painting  may  be 
said  to  be  formed  of  various  dark  and  light  tints,  so  the  electric 
portrait  of  the  Moon  contains  various  degrees  of  electric  force, 
which,  coming  in  contact  with  the  electricity  of  the  Earth’s  atmos- 
phere, produces  different  effects  on  us  and  on  the  natural  scenes 
amid  which  we  dwell.  As  for  eclipses  — if  you  slowly  pass  a round 
screen  between  yourself  and  a blazing  fire,  you  will  only  see  the 
edges  of  the  fire.  In  the  same  way  the  electrograph  of  the  Moon 
passes  at  stated  intervals  between  the  Earth  and  the  burning 
world  of  the  Sun.”^ 

“Yet  surely,”  I said,  “the  telescope  has  enabled  us  to  see  the 
Moon  as  a solid  globe  — ^"we  have  discerned  mountains  and  valleys 
on  its  surface ; and  then  it  revolves  round  us  regularly  — how  do 
you  account  for  these  facts  ? ” 

“ The  telescope,”  returned  Heliobas,  “ is  merely  an  aid  to  the 


332 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


human  eye ; and,  as  I told  you  before,  nothing  is  so  easily  deceived 
as  our  sense  of  vision,  even  when  assisted  by  mechanical  appliances. 
The  telescope,  like  the  stereoscope,  simply  enables  us  to  see  the 
portrait  of  the  Moon  more  clearly ; but  all  the  same,  the  Moon,  as 
a world,  does  not  exist.  Her  likeness,  taken  by  electricity,  may 
last  some  thousands  of  years,  and  as  long  as  it  lasts  it  must  revolve 
around  us,  because  everything  in  the  universe  moves,  and  moves  in 
a circle.  Besides  which,  this  portrait  of  the  Moon  being  com- 
posed of  pure  electricity,  is  attracted  and  forced  to  follow  the 
Earth  by  the  compelling  influence  of  the  Earth’s  own  electric 
power.  Therefore,  till  the  picture  fades,  it  must  attend  the 
Earth  like  the  haunting  specter  of  a dead  joy.  You  cannot  under- 
stand now  why  we  never  see  what  we  imagine  to  be  the  other  side 
of  the  Moon.  It  simply  has  no  other  side,  except  space.  Space  is 
the  canvas  — the  Moon  is  a sketch.  How  interested  we  are  when 
a discovery  is  made  of  some  rare  old  painting,  of  which  the  sub- 
ject is  a perfectly  beautiful  woman!  It  bears  no  name  — perhaps 
no  date  — but  the  face  that  smiles  at  us  is  exquisite  — the  lips  yet 
pout  for  kisses  — the  eyes  brim  over  with  love  1 And  we  admire  it 
tenderly  and  reverently  — we  mark  it  ^Portrait  of  a Lady,^  and 
give  it  an  honored  place  among  our  art  collections.  With  how 
much  more  reverence  and  tenderness  ought  we  to  look  up  at  the 
^Portrait  of  a Fair  Lost  Sphere,  circling  yonder  in  that  dense, 
ever-moving  gallery  of  wonders,  where  the  hurrying  throng  of 
spectators  are  living  and  dying  worlds  1 ” 

I had  followed  the  speaker’s  words  with  fascinated  attention, 
but  now  I said : “ Dying,  Heliobas  ? There  is  no  death.” 

“ True ! ” he  answered,  with  hesitating  slowness.  “ But  there  is 
what  we  call  death  — transition  — and  it  is  always  a parting.” 

‘‘  But  not  for  long  I ” I exclaimed,  with  all  the  gladness  and 
eagerness  of  my  lately  instructed  soul.  ‘‘As  worlds  are  absorbed 
into  the  Electric  Circle  and  again  thrown  out  in  new  and  more 
glorious  forms,  so  are  we  absorbed  and  changed  into  shapes  of 
perfect  beauty,  having  eyes  that  are  strong  and  pure  enough  to 
look  God  in  the  face.  The  body  perishes;  but  what  have  we  to 
do  with  the  body  — our  prison  and  place  of  experience  — except 
to  rejoice  when  we  shake  ofl  its  weight  forever  ? ” 


LECTURE  XV. 


333 


With  these  words,  “Rejoice  when  we  shake  off  its 
weight  forever,”  we  conclude  our  notice  of  a book  which, 
to  our  certain  knowledge,  has  done  more  to  instruct  and 
console,  ennoble  and  purify  current  romantic  literature 
than  any  other  volume  with  which  we  are  acquainted. 
“Robert  Elsmere”  fades  into  gloom  beside  it,  as  Mrs. 
Humphrey  W ard  has  unhappily  cast  off  the  miraculous 
for  no  certain  kind  of  spiritual  assurance  whatever, 
while  Marie  Corelli  has  given  pure  gold  whenever  she 
has  removed  dross  from  prevailing  religious  conceptions. 
We  do  not  wonder  at  the  numerous  letters  of  grateful 
thanks  she  has  received  from  readers  in  various  parts  of 
the  world,  a few  of  which  form  a valuable  appendix  to 
the  story.  Before  closing  this  inordinately  long  chapter, 
at  the  request  of  many  of  our  correspondents  we  cite  a 
short  incident  from  one  of  our  own  stories,  “ Onesimus 
Toole,”  published  as  a serial  in  the  Crolden  Crate  of  San 
Francisco,  during  the  spring  and  early  summer  of  1889, 
and  now  issued  as  a separate  volume.  The  main  facts  re- 
lated in  that  tale  came  under  the  writer’s  personal  notice 
a few  years  ago,  and  were  vouched  for  by  thoroughly 
responsible  persons,  who,  however,  shunned  notoriety, 
and  therefore  would  not  give  permission  for  their  real 
names  and  residences  to  be  made  known. 

Paris,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  is  a nest  of  Theosophy, 
hidden  deeply  under  the  veil  of  outward  glamour  and 
frivolity.  The  bright  French  capital  holds  fully  as  much 
if  not  more  genuine  spirituality  than  the  more  sober, 
but  not  of  necessity  more  virtuous,  British  metropolis, 
which  also,  to  the  writer’s  knowledge,  contains  very 
much  more  of  genuine  spiritual  light  than  the  casual 


334 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


observer  is  ever  led  to  suppose.  Highly  developed  per- 
sons rarely  court  publicity,  and  seldom  do  they  oifer  to 
give  light  to  those  who  are  not  earnestly  in  search  of  it. 
Once  in  a while  some  ray  of  spiritual  truth  may  seem- 
ingly  go  out  of  its  accustomed  path  to  convince  some 
soul  who  is  not  looking  for  light ; but  such  instances 
are  extremly  rare,  and  may  be  termed  exceptions  to  the 
general  rule,  which  is  expressed  exactly  in  the  words  so 
often  heard  and  read,  but,  alas,  so  seldom  truly  applied : 
“ Ask,  and  ye  shall  receive ; seek,  and  ye  shall  find.” 
Those  who  ask  in  a spirit  of  vainglorious  self-seeking, 
or  who  desire  only  to  better  their  own  personal  condition 
for  their  private  enjoyment,  need  not  expect  an  answer 
from  a very  exalted  spiritual  source  when  they  knock  at 
the  portals  of  the  unseen  realm;  but  those  who  are 
guided  by  unselfish  desire  to  bless  rather  than  to  be 
blessed  themselves  have  a right  to  expect  that  according 
to  their  faith  it  shall  be  unto  them.  This  law  is  inex- 
orable and  eternal,  and  is  as  truly  natural  as  the  law 
disputed  by  none  when  applied  to  earthly  things,  how- 
ever much  it  may  be  discredited  when  given  a higher 
application.  ‘^Men  cannot  gather  figs  of  thorns,  or 
grapes  of  thistles.”  Would  that  every  seeker  after  any 
spiritual  gift,  or  knowledge,  could  remember  and  be 
guided  by  the  assurance  that  words  are  comparatively 
worthless,  while  motive  is  everything  in  our  search  into 
the  invisible.  Then  would  the  teachings  and  experi- 
ences recorded  in  this  chapter  be  of  no  rare  occurrence 
among  mankind.  What  follows  from  ^‘Onesimus  Toole” 
will,  we  think,  be  of  some  service  to  those  who  are  in 
search  of  light  on  spiritual  electric  therapeutics. 


LECTURE  XY. 


335 


Professor  Montmarte,  the  pseudonym  of  a distinguished 
savant^  known  to  the  writer,  gave  the  following  explana- 
tion of  spiritual  healing  to  a pupil  and  patient,  who  had 
been  long  a sufferer  from  complicated  ailments,  and  was 
completely  restored  under  his  teaching  and  treatment. 

‘‘  Electricity  is  the  unitary  manifestation  of  spirit ; only  in  an 
electric  guise  is  spirit  ever  revealed,  and  while  electricity  is  both 
the  ‘ savor  of  life  unto  life,  and  of  death  unto  death  ’ in  electrical 
therapeutics,  the  savant  invariably  works  with  the  constructive  cur- 
rent, if  he  be  true  to  the  irreversible  commandment  of  divine  law  : 
‘Resist  not  evil,  but  overcome  evil  with  good’;  the  constructive 
force,  however,  is  transformed  into  an  agent  of  destruction  when  it 
expels  foreign  material  from  the  frame,  the  animalcules ^ concerning 
which  there  is  at  present  so  much  glib  prating,  are  driven  out 
never  to  return,  their  vacant  places  never  to  be  re-occupied  by  simi- 
lar disturbers  of  the  peace,  when  the  element  of  life  enters  in  as 
the  superlatively  strong  man  to  evict  one  relatively  strong,  but  of 
necessity  comparatively  weak  when  contrasted  with  the  stronger. 
If  you  ask  me  how  I explain  the  modus  operandi  of  regeneration, 
I can  only  answer  in  a brief  conversation  such  as  we  are  now 
engaged  in,  that  new  cells  and  tissues,  all  vigorously  healthy,  being 
formed,  the  old  decayed  cells  and  tissues  are  removed. 

“ I believe,  indeed  I will  add,  I know,  that  mental  treatment 
can  be  so  given  as  to  be  all  inclusive,  but  in  such  cases  electricity 
is  the  agent  employed  by  spirit  in  rebuilding  the  frame,  though  in 
many  instances,  probably  in  most,  quite  without  the  knowledge  of 
the  mental  therapeutist.” 

“Excuse  my  interrupting,”  broke  in  Mr.  Toole,  who  had  been 
an  eager  listener  to  the  Professor’s  speech,  “ but  are  we  to  conclude 
once  for  all,  that  Jesus  and  the  apostles  healed  by  electrical  means, 
and  that  what  you  term  human  electricity  issued  from  the  hem  of 
Christ’s  garment,  reaching  and  healing  the  woman  who  had  suffered 
twelve  years  from  a painful  malady  which  baffled  all  medical  skill, 
and  that  the  same  force  entered  into  the  handkerchiefs  and  aprons, 
which  according  to  the  testimony  of  the  Acts  were  laid  on  sick 


336 


STUDIES  m THEOSOPHY. 


persons,  and  did  this  same  force  extend  even  to  Peter’s  shadow 
and  permeate  the  anointing  oil  recommended  by  James,  when 
applied  by  the  elders  of  the  primitive  church  ? ” 

I answer  unreservedly,  yes ; but  I may  possibly  take  a some- 
what different  view  of  some  of  these  narratives  to  the  one  you 
doubtless  entertain,  judging  by  the  style  of  your  interrogations. 
Now,  in  the  case  of  the  woman  first  referred  to;  what  did  the 
Great  Healer  say  to  her  ? were  not  his  words  on  several  such  occa- 
sions, ^Be  of  good  cheer,  your  faith  has  made  you  whole,’  or  a 
statement  to  that  effect?  Now  faith  has  three  distinct  elements: 
first,  a sincere  disposition  toward  right;  second,  confidence  in  the 
right  perceived ; third,  open  spiritual  vision,  or  unusually  keen  dis- 
cernment of  right.  To  say  your  faith  has  made  you  whole  is  there- 
fore equivalent  to  the  declaration,  you  owe  your  restoration  to 
health  to  your  faithfulness  of  disposition,  your  confidence  in  divine 
truth,  and  your  spiritual  perception  of  what  is  needful  for  your 
welfare.  Had  I the  time  and  opportunity  this  evening  to  explain 
the  ‘ way  of  salvation  ’ as  I understand  it,  I am  sure  I could  settle 
your  mind  with  regard  to  many  mooted  theological  questions 
which  still  embarrass  you ; I will  endeavor,  in  a very  few  words,  to 
explain  what  I understand  by  salvation. 

‘‘  The  great  and  holy  teacher,  Jesus,  was  in  his  terrestrial  embodi- 
ment, a perfect  human  being,  radiating  constantly  an  untainted 
electric  fluid ; this  absolutely  healthy  life-essence  reached  out  to  all 
receptive  minds,  and  drew  them  to  him,  in  whom  they  found  all 
the  assistance  they  needed  to  lead  them  to  live  a healthy  life ; but 
be  cautious  here,  and  beware  lest  you  attribute  to  an  emanation 
from  a physical  form  what  originates  in  the  unseen  realm  of  spirit, 
and  only  ultimates  itself  in  the  perfect  human  physique.  The  power 
exercised  by  Jesus  was  a power  which  delivered  from  the  love  of 
sin ; his  influence  excited  an  ardent  love  of  righteousness,  and  led 
the  suppliant  for  earthly  benefit,  to  seek  first  the  heavenly  king- 
dom of  righteousness,  following  upon  the  discovery  of  which 
earthly  blessings  could  be  fully  realized.  I am  not  intending  to 
discuss  dogmatic  theology,  which  is  often  a belligerent  as  well  as 
fruitless  theme.  I am  inviting  you  to  glean  from  the  New  Testa- 
ment practical  help  for  daily  use,  and  thus  I emphasize  those  pas- 


LECTURE  XY. 


337 


sages  which  teach  the  latent  possibilities  of  every  human  soul. 
What  think  you  mean  the  words  so  often  quoted,  ‘the  works 
which  I do,  ye  shall  do  also  ’ ? Whoever  uttered  such  a sentence 
was  a true  scientist,  a genuine  teacher  of  men,  one  who  explained 
the  road  along  which  we  must  travel  if  we  too  would  reach  the 
heights  he  had  already  scaled.  Some  persons  were  not  at  all  bene- 
fited by  personal  association  with  the  Christ ; the  ever-execrated 
Judas  Iscariot  had  been  as  near  the  person  of  his  Master  as  the 
beloved  and  ever-faithful  evangelist  John ; the  people  w^ho  caused 
Jesus  to  marvel  at  their  obstinate  incredulity  were  as  near  his 
body,  and  could  have  touched  his  garments  as  readily  as  those 
whom  it  appears  were  instantly  relieved  of  their  infirmities. 

“What  constitutes  the  difference  between  a receptive  and  a 
non-receptive  state  ? You  may  as  well  ask  wherein  a closed  win- 
dow differs  from  an  open  one.  People  open  their  windows  when 
they  wish  for  light  and  air ; they  close  and  barricade  them  when 
they  are  afraid  of  sunshine.  We  need  not  go  far  to  find  analogies 
in  the  field  of  daily  experience.  I am  invited  often  to  the  homes 
of  poor,  misguided  worldlings  who  offer  themselves  and  children 
in  sacrifice  to  the  moloch  of  fashion  and  display.  See  those  un- 
healthy, wretched  women,  clad  in  indecent  garments  which -torture 
the  ‘ human  form  divine,^  into  a hideous  caricature  of  nature ; wit- 
ness the  poor,  deluded  worshipers  of  the  upholsterer’s  creations, 
whose  sitting-rooms  have  the  odor  of  tombs,  and  whose  children 
are  penned  up  in  gilded  cages,  deprived  of  all  the  rightful  freedom 
of  youth  for  fear  that  carpets  may  be  faded,  or  soiled  and  com- 
plexions grow  healthy  through  exposure  to  the  light  and  air. 
Were  Jesus  on  earth  to-day,  many  a ‘ Christian  ’ woman  would  be 
insulted  and  turn  indignantly  away  when  she  found  that  tight- 
lacing,  foot-pinching,  and  complexion-spoiling  were  not  permissi- 
ble in  ‘ the  church  of  the  first-born,  whose  names  are  written  in 
heaven.’ 

“We  cannot  disobey  the  law  of  God  made  manifest  throughout 
the  illimitable  field  of  nature,  to  gratify  the  serpent  of  our  lowest 
instincts  without  paying  the  penalty.  I would  offer  the  sternest 
rebuke  to  those  pseudo-Christian  scientists  who  teach  the  outra- 
geous falsehood  that  we  become  superior  to  the  effect  of  all  exter- 


338 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


nal  things  by  pampering  illicit  appetites,  and  then  presumptuously 
denying  that  anything  material  can  affect  us;  such  travesties  of 
gospel-teaching  need  to  be  scorched  with  the  fire  of  truthful 
teaching  until  they  wither  into  ashes.  I grant  fully  that  when 
people  live  as  the  Gospel  teaches  them  to  live,  they  cannot  be 
harmed  by  poisons,  serpents,  or  aught  else  noxious  under  other 
conditions,  but  the  impudent  lie  which  affirms  immunity  from 
consequence  while  error  is  indulged,  is  the  vilest  falsification  of 
the  Gospel  ever  fabricated  by  ‘ mortal  mind  ’ in  its  most  ignorant 
degree  of  degradation.  I do  not  read  in  gospel  or  epistle  that  any 
one  was  ever  permanently  saved  from  suffering  who  was  not 
redeemed  from  the  love  of  error,  and  what  error  is  so  gross,  or 
afiection  so  degrading  as  that  which  enslaves  the  reason  in  the 
chains  of  carnal  appetite  and  frivolous  desire  for  the  world’s 
applause,  while  in  the  same  breath  we  are  told  to  ignore  all  things 
material  and  all  personal  concerns,  and  trust  entirely  in  Infinite 
Spirit  ? 

The  absence  of  the  jewel  consistency^  from  any  crown,  will  rob 
that  diadem  of  all  abiding  luster ; I do  not  wish  for  a moment  to 
speak  disparagingly  of  ‘ Christian  Science,’  but  I do  see  rotten 
timbers,  in  the  vessel  now  launched  upon  the  waves,  bearing  that 
inscription.  But  with  regard  to  the  handkerchiefs,  aprons,  shad- 
ows, and  oil  to  which  you  have  called  my  attention,  I should  un- 
hesitatingly pronounce  many  ancient  beliefs  decidedly  supersti- 
tious, and  I can  readily  see  how  many  people  in  an  Oriental  country 
would  approach  spiritual  life  through  the  veil  of  their  preconceived 
ideas  and  practices.  I do  not  accredit  garments,  oils,  or  shadows 
with  power  to  heal  the  sick,  but  I do  know  that  there  is  no  shadow 
without  some  substance  to  cast  it,  while  wearing  apparel  is  not,  in 
the  cases  referred  to,  valued  for  its  own  sake,  but  solely  by  reason 
of  its  connection  with  an  owner  or  wearer  who  inspires  confidence 
and  esteem ; and  the  very  fact  of  the  oil  being  ceremoniously  ad- 
ministered by  persons  in  high  standing  among  the  gnostic  brethren 
of  the  first  century,  is,  to  my  mind,  sufficient  proof  that  these  out- 
ward things  were  nothing  in  themselves,  but  only  serviceable  as 
they  enabled  very  crude  and  undeveloped  intellects  to  lay  hold  of 
a truth  whose  naked  beauty  they  could  not  at  once  discern.” 


LECTUKE  XV. 


339 


“ Still/’  continued  Mr.  Toole,  granting  all  you  say,  and  I most 
cordially  thank  you  for  your  exceeding  plainness  of  speech  and 
clearness  of  doctrine,  is  there  not,  after  all,  something  solid  in  the 
claim  of  the  animal  magnetist,  or  certainly  in  that  of  the  psycholo- 
gist, mesmerist,  or  electrobiologist  to  whose  instrumentality  we  un- 
doubtedly owe  some  cases  of  complete,  and  many  of  partial  resto- 
ration to  health  ? ” 

I do  not  see,”  resumed  the  Professor,  ‘‘  that  I need  to  alter  my 
base,  or  in  the  slightest  degree  vary  my  position  to  admit  that  a 
healthy  state  of  mind  overflows  in  a torrent  of  healthy  magnetism. 
I claim  always  that  animal  magnetism  is  not  what  we  should  seek 
for ; too  often  it  is  most  grievously  polluted,  and  is  not  at  all  an 
agreeable  or  a safe  thing  to  handle  when  in  a tainted  condition.  I 
put  it  to  you  as  a reasonable  man,  does  it  seem  feasible  that  an 
unhealthy  body  should  communicate  pure  vital  force  to  another 
frame  ? Of  what  character  and  in  what  condition  are  the  bulk  of 
magnetic  healers  and  those  who  employ  massage'^  I do  not  suggest 
that  they  are  below  the  average  man  or  woman,  but  are  they  above 
/ mediocrity  in  any  direction  ? Any  one  can  give  magnetic  treatment, 
but  can  any  one  heal  the  sick  by  laying  on  of  hands?  Experience 
answers  no ! Xow,  if  we  allow  that  many  people  whose  outward 
methods  are  defective,  accomplish  good  because  of  their  goodness 
of  heart  and  sincerity  of  purpose,  I wull  agree  with  you  that  they 
enjoy  a limited  amount  of  success,  and  in  this  connection  I beg 
you  to  note  that  ninety  per  cent  of  those  who  heal  by  such  methods 
are  Spiritualists  and  claim  to  be  mediums.  Their  own  theory, 
then,  demolishes  belief  in  what  is  animal,  and  lifts  the  healing  gift 
into  a purely  psychic  realm,  where  it  is  made  to  depend  on  the  in- 
telligent action  of  incorporeal  beings. 

Mrs.  Richmond  of  Chicago,  whose  inspired  addresses  I often 
read  with  much  pleasure,  though  not  by  any  means  friendly  to 
certain  phases  of  the  Christian  or  Mental  Science  Movement,  takes 
this  latter  ground  and  defends  it  forcibly.  Xow,  as  I cannot  deal 
with  pluralities  such  as  laws  and  forces  continually  without  con- 
founding those  who  come  to  me  for  instruction,  I bring  everything 
to  a point  of  unity  and  speak  of  law  and  force  in  the  singular.  I 
am  often  provoked  to  laughter  by  the  absurd  statements  of  many 


340 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


conceited  sciolists  who,  ignorant  of  the  very  first  principle,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  latest  discoveries  in  chemistry,  inform  us  that  be- 
cause while  the  ancients  spoke  of  only  four  elements,  earth,  air,  fire, 
and  water,  and  modern  chemists  tell  of  somewhere  between  sixty 
and  seventy  primates,  therefore  nature  does  not  proclaim  unity; 
to  such  unlightened  dabblers  in  science  I would  say,  there  is  not  a 
chemist  of  any  repute  on  either  side  of  the  Atlantic  or  Pacific  who 
does  not  maintain  that  all  primates  must  be  ultimately  reducible 
to  one  absolute  primary.  This  essential  primary,  I maintain,  is 
electricity,  which  in  its  turn  is  but  the  outward  garb  of  pure  spirit, 
itself  ever  invisible,  the  unseen  cause  of  all  things,  known  only 
through  its  manifestations.” 

As  the  conversation  had  proceeded,  Mrs.  Kittenscomb  had  fallen 
into  a profound  slumber,  from  which  she  awoke  suddenly,  after  about 
an  hour’s  enjoyment  of  most  perfect  and  refreshing  rest,  exclaiming : 

“ Oh,  I see  it  all  now ; I have  been  grieving  for  the  loss  of  my  hus- 
band’s body,  and  now  I am  to  blend  my  efforts  with  his  in  enlarg- 
ing the  sphere  of  his  present  ministry.  To  do  this,  to  co-operate 
in  his  endeavors,  1 must  forget  self,  and  disembarrass  my  mind  of  all 
concern  for  material  welfare.'^ 

Only  as  we  learn  to  know  and  prize  each  other  in  spirit,  can  we  be 
healthy,  happy,  or  pure.  As  we  find  spiritual  life  we  know  there  can 
be  no  death. 


THE  CHEIST. 

“ Pro  peccatis  suse  gentis 
Vidit  Jesum  in  tormentis 
Et  flagellis  subditum.” 


I. 

What  care  we  who  his  parents  were,  or  where 
The  light  of  day  first  beamed  on  his  dear  face  ? 
Plainly  he  stands  the  foremost  of  the  race  \ 


LECTURE  XY. 


341 


His  truth  and  purity  all  men  declare. 

Philosopher  pronouncing  words  aflame  ; 

Truer  than  all  others  from  a human  tongue, 

Deeper  in  meaning  than  when  priests  the  same 
In  tabernacles  preached  or  cloisters  sung ; 

We  hail  him  Christ,  who  showed  the  wondrous  God, 
Yet  sought  not  to  describe  or  limit  him. 

Free  from  material  thought,  conceit  or  whim : 
Content  not  in  the  common  paths  to  plod ; 

Whose  wondrous  mission  stands  in  contrast  bold 
With  church  or  creed  or  teaching  new  or  old. 


II. 

When  we  the  lessons  comprehend,  he  taught ; 

So  deeply  filled  with  love,  so  pure,  so  free 
From  doubtful  meaning,  problems  we  have  sought 
In  vain  to  solve  would  have  no  mystery. 

Were  they  not  practical  they^d  have  no  worth. 

He  taught  not  how  to  pray  so  much  as  learn 
Man’s  duty  to  his  brother  man  on  earth ; 

Man’s  duty  to  himself,  how  to  discern : 

Made  plain  the  unity  of  all,  with  Him 

Through  whom  he  raised  the  dead  and  made  the  blind 

To  see ; revivified  the  weak  and  palsied  limb. 

Or  stilled  to  sleep  the  threatening  wave  and  wind ; 
E’en  as  from  out  the  tomb’s  dark  damp  confine 
The  deathless  man  strode  forth,  with  power  divine. 

III. 

Let  it  be  granted  that  from  lower  forms 
Of  life  sprang  higher  forms,  through  long,  long  years, 
And  others  higher  still,  through  wreck  and  storms. 
Hard  struggling  came,  timid  and  filled  with  fears, 


342 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


Until  to  conscious  view  came  naked  men, 
Living  in  caves  like  beasts,  without  a thought 
But  that  of  comfort  for  the  body,  then ; 

A monkey’s  ease  or  wolfish  strife  their  lot. 
Surely  some  future  dawn,  with  whiter  light, 
Shall  beam  effulgent  forth  upon  a race 
Of  men  who  seek  to  know  all  things  aright. 
Controlled  not  by  the  senses,  time  or  place ; 
And  in  the  brilliant  splendor  of  that  day 
Heaven  shall  be  revealed,  o’er  earth  hold  sway. 


IV. 

Then  shall  the  blinding  mists,  which  hide  from  view 
Eeal  things,  be  driven  by  the  white  sun  hence ; 

God  shall  be  manifest,  so  real,  so  true ; 

Freed  from  the  shocking  creed  of  recompense 
For  good  deeds  done  in  a cheap,  trivial  way. 

Or  vengeance  for  the  wrong  he  knoweth  not. 

And  he  shall  come  so  near  that  those  who  seek 
A blessing  from  his  hand,  by  night  or  day. 

May  need  no  mediator  — all  untaught 
In  litany  — not  knowing  how  to  speak 
In  prayer : they  may  approach  him  without  fear. 
Take  from  his  bounteous  hand  their  rightful' share, 
Which  he  will  not,  cannot,  from  them  withhold. 

Who  seek  him  meekly,  but  with  wisdom  bold. 

T.  S.  Very. 


LECTURE  XVI. 


THEISM,  SPIEITTJALISM,  AND  THEOSOPHY:  THEIE  ESSEN- 
TIAL AGREEMENT  AND  NECESSARY  UNION. 

What  is  the  basis  of  true  reform? 

Should  Spiritualists  offer  prayer  to  a Supreme  Being  ? 
“ The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart,  There  is  no  God.” 


When  we  are  asked  whether  Spiritualists  should 
offer  prayer  to  a Supreme  Being,  we  may  be  allowed 
to  enquire  what  constitutes  a Spiritualist  and  what  is 
Spiritualism. 

We  understand  that  there  are  only  two  philosophies 
which  can  be  said  to  account  in  any  intelligent  or 
rational  way  for  the  universe.  The  one  is  Spiritualis- 
tic ; the  other  is  Materialistic.  Either  the  Spiritual  is 
the  cause  and  the  Material  is  the  effect,  or  the  Material 
is  the  cause  and  the  Spiritual  is  the  effect. 

We  all  know  the  position  of  Materialism:  Material- 
ism states  that  everything  is  matter ; therefore  if  there 
is  any  spirit  at  all,  — and  certainly  Materialists  admit 
the  phenomena  of  consciousness,  — they  declare  that 
this  consciousness  is  inseparable  from  the  material  form 
from  which  it  is  evolved.  By  tracing  everything  back 
to  a germ  cell,  they  endeavor  to  account  for  every 
external  phenomenon  and  for  all  the  consciousness  or 


344 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


intelligence  displayed  through  organisms  by  a process 
of  evolution ; and  while  the  theories  of  evolution  put 
forth  by  Larniarck  in  France,  by  Prof.  Alfred  Russel 
Wallace  in  England,  by  many  notable  men  in  the  United 
States,  and  many  eminent  scientists  all  over  the  world, 
may  prove  this  position  substantially  correct,  — at  all 
events  reasonable,  — yet  all  such  theories  of  evolution 
are  founded  upon  nothing  unless  you  grant  that  there 
is  a power  behind  all  expression  which  is  the  cause  of 
such  expression. 

We  have  no  objection  whatever  to  evolution;  Ave 
have  no  conflict  whatever  with  any  evolutionist;  Ave 
do  not  even  deny  that  one  form  can  be  transformed 
or  transmuted  into  another,  but  we  have  never  wit- 
nessed any  process  of  typal  transformation  or  transmu- 
tation, so  Ave  do  not  dogmatically  affirm  it.  You  will 
kindly  remember  that  while  a great  many  very  positive 
statements  are  put  into  the  mouth  of  Darwin  by  people 
who  are  not  very  familiar  Avith  his  Avritings,  Darwin 
himself  did  not  make  any  positive  statements  whatever 
as  to  the  transformation  of  species,  but  simply  inferred 
it  may  be  that  one  type  is  sometimes  developed  into 
another.  He  states  a great  many  things  Avhich  he  puts 
forth  hypothetically;  and  if  Darwin  is  to  be  credited 
Avith  one  special  virtue  more  than  another,  that  virtue 
is  extreme  cautiousness,  unusual  carefulness  in  making 
a statement. 

Alfred  Russel  Wallace,  who  should  share  honor  Avith 
DarAvin  as  co-discoverer  of  evolution  in  England,  has 
declared  in  many  Avorks,  and  particularly  in  a very 
recent  one,  that  the  spiritual  theory  of  life  is  not  in 


LECTURE  XVI. 


345 


any  way  shaken  by  the  theory  of  evolution,  but  that 
evolution  rather  helps  to  sustain  it;  while  Professor 
Le  Conte  of  the  University  at  Berkeley,  and  many 
other  eminent  men  in  California,  and  indeed  all  over 
America  and  the  world,  take  exactly  the  same  position. 

Now  if  people  think  for  a single  instant  that  faith  in 
a Supreme  Being  is  endangered  by  evolution,  they  know 
no  more  of  the  subject  than  a blind  man  knows  of  color 
or  a deaf  man  of  sound.  Though  blind  men  may  be 
perfectly  honest,  we  refuse  to  put  out  our  eyes,  or  even 
close  them,  because  some  people  are  lamentably  short- 
sighted ; and  though  deaf  people  may  be  perfectly  sincere, 
we  shall  not  wear  cotton  in  our  ears  because  they  cannot 
hear.  Therefore  with  all  respect  for  those  who  take 
the  Materialistic  or  Atheistic  position,  we  are  deter- 
mined to  affirm  what  we  know  to  be  truth,  and  what 
we  know  to  be  truth  is  that  every  research  of  modern 
science,  worthy  of  the  name,  absolutely  confirms  the 
position  of  the  true  Theist  who  acknowledges  that  an 
infinite  intelligence  is  back  of  all  phenomena. 

These  words  are  not  idle  sentences  thrown  out  on 
the  spur  of  the  moment.  We  would  strongly  advise 
all  to  read  the  most  recent  writings  of  Alfred  Russel 
Wallace,  the  wise  and  eminent  Spiritualist,  who  was 
honored  with  a very  large  audience  in  Metropolitan 
Temple,  San  Francisco,  some  time  ago,  when  he  deliv- 
ered that  remarkable  lecture,  “If  a man  die,  shall  he 
live  again  ? ” printed  in  the  Grolden  G-ate^  the  Banner  of 
Lights  and  other  papers,  and  then  issued  in  a pamphlet 
published  by  Colby  & Rich,  9 Bosworth  St.,  Boston, 
and  Albert  Morton,  210  Stockton  St.,  San  Francisco. 


346 


STUDIES  IK  THEOSOPHY. 


We  would  advise  all  to  study  the  latest  writings  of 
Professor  Le  Conte,  and  to  compare  the  testimony  of 
various  men  worthy  the  name  of  scientists,  and  you 
will  find  that  evolution  does  not  in  any  sense  contradict 
the  essential  statement  of  any  Bible.  People  may  argue 
as  much  as  they  please  concerning  the  different  inter- 
pretations put  upon  the  Pentateuch,  and  while  some 
think  it  the  result  of  a divided  authorship,  and  many 
doubt  its  genuineness  altogether ; while  some  interpret 
it  literally,  and  others  allegorically,  and  the  Sweden- 
borgians  contend  with  Swedenborg  that  it  contains  an 
interior  significance  which  can  only  be  interpreted  by 
those  who  have  the  key  of  correspondence,  we  shall 
certainly  not  ask  any  one  to  accept  the  statements  in 
the  opening  chapters  of  Genesis  as  of  a character  to 
convince  scientists  or  explorers  in  any  scientific  domain. 
But  you  will  please  remember  that  the  eminent  geolo- 
gist, Dr.  Steele,  a distinguished  author  of  text-books  on 
all  the  natural  sciences,  and  many  other  equally  able 
men,  most  distinctly  affirm  that  there  is  nothing  what- 
ever in  geology  which  causes  any  reasonable  mind  to 
dispute  the  general  underlying  truth  of  Hebrew  Cos- 
mogony. To  say  that  the  Bible  is  absolutely  true,  in  its 
outward  form,  at  least,  or  to  claim  that  the  accounts  of 
creation  in  Genesis  are  exact  facts  as  they  stand,  would 
be  to  claim  a great  deal  more  than  any  intelligent  per- 
son or  genuine  scholar  would  think  of  claiming  in  these 
times.  But  we  must  remember  that  not  only  one  Bible, 
but  all  the  Bibles  of  the  world  (and  there  are  many) 
point  to  the  same  central  idea  of  life,  and  in  that  cen- 
tral idea  all  the  greatest,  the  mightiest,  and  the  wisest 


LECTURE  XVr. 


347 


minds  in  every  age  and  country  have  concurred;  all 
have  united  in  affirming  that  the  heavens  declare  the 
glory  of  God.”  That  “ God  geometrizes,”  as  stated  by 
Plato,  has  been  echoed  in  the  mind  of  every  genuine 
scientist  ever  since  his  time. 

Science  is  knowledge,  and  nothing  less.  It  is  not 
speculation ; it  is  not  assertion ; it  is  whatever  can  be 
proved,  whatever  can  be  demonstrated ; and  that  which 
can  be  demonstrated  through  evolution  is  that,  so  far 
as  evolution  itself  can  be  demonstrated,  it  demonstrates 
the  action  of  an  infinite  intelligence,  which  from  the 
earliest  start  of  the  most  primitive  organism  involved 
the  thought  of  perfection  ultimately  outwrought  in  the 
wonderfully  complex  yet  beautifully  simple  form  of  per- 
fected humanity. 

If  we  cannot  see  into  the  future,  we  can  into  the  past 
far  enough  to  realize  that  not  a single  creature  has 
walked  the  earth  with  aimless  tread ; that  nothing 
whatever  has  appeared  which  has  not  served  some  pur- 
pose ; therefore  instead  of  our  being  at  all  fearful  that 
the  idea  of  God  will  go  as  people  become  scientific,  we 
know  that  a sublime  idea  of  God  will  come  as  soon  as 
unscientific  people  receive  some  scientific  enlightenment. 
When  the  idea  is  presented  to  the  world  that  God  is 
an  all-ruling  intelligence,  an  infinite  spirit,  you  certainly 
will  not  be  deluded  by  any  foolish  statements  about  a 
personal  God,  especially  when  persons  know  well  that 
the  word  person  is  used  in  a hundred  different  ways  by 
a hundred  different  people ; and  that  the  best  authors 
of  the  day  refuse  to  contest  the  personal  side  of  the 
question.  Some  people  say  that  God  is  personal ; some 


348 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


say  that  God  is  impersonal ; some  say  God  is  super-per- 
sonal ; but  modest  people  are  apt  to  say  they  really  do 
not  know : what  you  may  mean  by  the  word  person  and 
what  I may  mean  by  that  word  is  somewhat  doubtful. 

A Supreme  Intelligence,  an  Infinite  Being,  does  not  at 
all  imply  limited  personality ; so  if  any  one  says  to  us. 
Do  you  believe  in  a God  with  personal  limitations  ? ” 
we  answer  we  do  not.  ‘‘Do  you  believe  God  has  a local- 
ized throne?”  We  do  not,  for  we  cannot  possibly  con- 
ceive of  the  Eternal  Infinite  occupying  one  place  and 
not  all  space ; or  manifesting  through  one  form  and  not 
through  all  forms.  It  may  be  quite  true  that  science 
tends  in  the  direction  of  what  may  be  termed,  for  want 
of  a better  designation.  Spiritual  Pantheism;  but  Spirit- 
ual Pantheism  is  the  very  reverse  of  Materialism. 
Spiritual  Pantheism  is  the  glorious  conception  that  one 
infinite  intelligence  pervades  all  the  universe  and  that 
Eternal  Law  is  the  expression  of  Infinite  Will.  Cer- 
tainly law  is  eternal ; certainly  law  is  immutable ; cer- 
tainly everything  is  governed  by  law;  but  cannot  a 
child  understand  if  it  be  stated  as  a primal  postulate 
that  the  Divine  Being  is  one  and  unalterable,  and  that 
the  Divine  Law  is  the  operation  of  the  Divine  Mind, 
that  the  movement  of  the  Divine  Mind  must  be  orderly, 
consistent,  and  unvarying,  if  the  mind  itself  is  consistent, 
orderly,  and  unvarying  ? 

No  idea  of  law  gathered  from  human  legislation  can 
be  applied  to  Divine  Law,  because  man  is  continually 
changing;  and  as  man  changes, his  laws  change.  There 
is  no  law  apart  from  intelligence ; there  is  not  a fraction 
of  proof  that  there  is  any  law  in  the  universe  which  is 


LECTURE  XVI. 


349 


not  a manifestation  of  intelligent  Will  producing  order. 
Every  expression  of  human  life  tends  directly  to  the 
conclusion  that  all  law  is  the  expression  of  will.  If  we 
rise  from  the  ‘‘known”  to  the  “unknown,”  calling  the 
ways  of  men  on  earth  “ the  known  ” and  whatever  lies 
beyond  the  sphere  of  human  activity  “the  unknown,” 
we  must  conclude  concerning  eternal  law,  the  law  of  the 
universe,  that  it  is  on  the  basic  line  we  have  laid  down, 
having  discovered  Will  to  be  the  sole  foundation  for 
an  expression  of  law  in  the  management  of  human 
affairs.  What  is  law  in  America?  There  is  no  law 
without  a legislator;  there  cannot  be.  In  a republic 
the  law  changes  every  time  the  Avill  of  the  people 
changes.  In  Turkey  the  law  changes  when  the  will  of 
the  Sultan  changes ; in  Russia  it  changes  when  the  will 
of  the  Czar  changes ; but  if  intelligent  people  distinctly 
affirm  that  God  never  changes,  how  can  they  suppose 
that  the  law  which  is  the  expression  of  God’s  Will 
will  ever  change  ? 

Therefore,  admitting,  as  all  intelligent  Theists  admit, 
that  back  of  law  is  an  intelligence  which  is  unchanging, 
universal  law  being  the  manifestation  of  this  intelli- 
gence, how  can  the  manifestation  change  if  the  intelli- 
gence does  not  change  ? Immutable  law  is  the  manifes- 
tation of  immutable  mind.  The  apostle  James  was 
undoubtedly  right  when  he  said  “ God  is  Avithout  varia- 
bleness, or  shadow  of  alteration  ” ; therefore  as  the  Divine 
Being  is  without  alteration,  a law  which  is  the  manifes- 
tation of  the  Divine  Being  is  likewise  without  alteration. 
Read  the  sermons  of  the  Rev.  M.  J.  Savage,  of  Boston, 
concerning  Spiritualism  and  kindred  topics,  and  you  will 


350 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


find  when  he  deals  with  any  theistic  problem,  he  harmo- 
nizes perfectly  with  the  most  scientific  and  enlightened 
thought  in  all  countries ; he  unhesitatingly  affirms  that 
what  we  call  the  law  of  nature,  is  nothing  other  than 
the  unvarying  habit  of  the  Divine  Mind ; that  what  we 
talk  about  as  law  is  simply  the  orderly  succession  of 
events.  The  law  of  Kabma  (a  Sanskritic  word  meaning 
consequence)  signifies  nothing  more  than  the  regular 
succession  of  cause  and  effect ; that  whatsoever  we  sow 
we  shall  reap ; and  it  is  eternally  true,  that  if  we  ask 
for  stones  we  will  not  get  bread ; if  we  ask  for  serpents 
we  will  not  get  fish.  The  law  is  undoubtedly  eternally 
and  immutably  fixed,  but  it  is  only  the  eternal  order  in 
which  all  events  move.  If  there  were  no  God,  every- 
thing would  be  subject  to  change,  to  fate,  to  caprice,  to 
we  know  not  what ; and  to  live  forever  in  a universe 
governed  by  a blind,  cold,  unintelligent  law  would  be  a 
catastrophe  instead  of  a blessing. 

For  ourselves,  we  want  no  Godless  Spiritualism ; we 
desire  to  live  in  no  Godless  universe.  To  live  in  a 
universe  forever  ruled  by  a blind  power  which  knows 
neither  wisdom  nor  love,  is  a prospect  so  much  worse 
than  that  held  out  by  Materialists,  that  we  much  prefer 
Materialism,  which  teaches  that  we  drop  wholly  out 
of  conscious  existence  when  the  physical  body  dies. 
Spiritualism  only  becomes  worthy  of  acceptance,  as  it  is 
only  spiritual  and  intelligent,  when  it  bases  everything 
upon  the  rock  of  Spirit ; true  Spiritualism  through  all 
ages,  wherever  expressed,  is  not  ‘^Atheism  with  a ghost.’' 
All  Spiritualists  worthy  the  name  acknowledge  a spirit- 
ual foundation  for  all  things.  Dr.  J.  R.  Buchanan,  who 


LECTURE  XVI. 


351 


is  certainly  an  eminent  Spiritualist,  declares  that  life  is 
a spiritual  power  and  cannot  be  derived  except  from 
prior  life,  and  this  in  a work  entitled  Sarcognomy  ” 
(science  of  the  flesh),  where,  from  the  title,  we  should 
scarcely  expect  to  And  such  a statement,  did  we  not 
know  that  a reasoning  anthropologist  cannot  be  an 
atheist.  Look  where  you  will  in  a scientiflc  direction, 
science  affirms  God : on  this  position  we  are  willing  to 
stake  all  issues;  here  we  have  always  planted  our  feet 
and  always  shall,  for  we  know  that  Atheism  is  radically 
false. 

We  maintain  that  to  abolish  prayer  and  to  state  that 
invocations  are  out  of  place  in  a Spiritualists’  meeting 
is  most  absurd,  and  further,  that  it  implies  a spirit  of 
tyranny.  We  maintain  also  that  it  is  a positive  duty 
for  people  who  know  that  prayer  is  answered,  to  pro- 
claim their  knowledge  to  the  world.  We  have  over 
and  over  again  been  called  upon  to  sustain  spiritual 
positions  in  opposition  to  physical  speculations,  and  in 
all  such  cases  we  hold  to  the  metaphysical  statement  be- 
cause we  have  proved  it  correct.  Having  proven  it,  it 
was  utterly  impossible  for  us  to  be  shaken  out  of  it  or 
moved  from  it  in  the  least ; and  as  we  positively  know 
that  prayer  is  efficacious,  we  affirm  that  it  is  what  Mont- 
gomery terms  it,  the  soul’s  sincere  desire,  uttered  or 
unexpressed.”  If  any  one  will  pray  sincerely  and  in  a 
faithful  spirit,  he  will  be  able  to  give  the  lie  to  all  such 
statements  as  ‘‘  prayer  is  useless.”  But  though  prayer 
is  answered,  it  is  not  answered  except  in  harmony  with 
Divine  Law,  for  it  is  answered  through  the  eternal  oper- 
ation of  immutable  Law.  The  Law  is  stated  in  the 


352 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


words,  If  you  ask,  you  receive ; if  you  seek,  you  find. 
There  is  the  statement  of  the  Law;  the  prayer  of  faith 
literally  does  accomplish  wonders : but  this  prayer  is 
not  out  of  harmony  with  the  law  of  nature ; it  is  indeed 
as  much  in  accord  with  it  as  the  growth  of  any  flower, 
the  development  of  any  tree,  or  the  progress  of  any  natu- 
ral event. 

The  object  of  public  prayer  is  to  acknowledge  publicly 
that  all  things  are  guided  by  one  infinite  universal  prin- 
ciple of  goodness.  Persons  who  set  up  men  of  straw 
and  then  knock  them  down  are  not  virtually  assailing 
any  position  taken  by  intelligent  people,  for  no  intelli- 
gent people  acknowledge  the  existence  of  their  men  of 
straw,  so  easily  made  and  so  easily  knocked  over,  as 
being  other  than  a creation  of  the  fancy  of  the  persons 
who  make  them  and  then  demolish  them;  the  gods 
attacked  by  infidels  are  at  most  individual  minds  or  per- 
sonal spirits  endowed  with  all  human  limitations.  That 
there  are  individual  spirits,  and  that  these  individual 
spirits  really  do  answer  certain  kinds  of  prayer,  there  is 
no  doubt  in  the  minds  of  earnest  students  of  the  subject. 
That  the  deities  of  mythology  have  been  more  or  less 
historical  personages  may  very  well  be  credited.  Per- 
sons who  are  interested  in  the  evolution  of  this  theory 
concerning  the  gods  and  goddesses  of  Greece  and  Rome 
may  receive  some  interesting  information,  if  they  will 
study  Donnelly’s  ^‘Atlantis,”  and  other  works  which 
enter  into  the  history  of  the  subject.  (James  Freeman 
Clarke’s  Ten  Great  Religions,”  and  Alger’s  ‘‘  History 
of  the  Doctrine  of  a Future  Life,”  will  be  found  very 
suggestive.) 


LECTTTKE  XVI. 


353 


Persons  speak  of  their  ‘‘  guides  ” and  controls  ” to- 
day ; whether  they  call  them  familiar  spirits  or  not,  they 
express  the  idea  that  unseen  influences  walk  about  with 
them  and  are  peculiarly  interested  in  their  private  wel- 
fare, sustaining  such  relations  to  them  as  brother  or  sis- 
ter, son  or  daughter,  uncle  or  aunt.  While  this  is  not 
the  highest  Spiritualism,  it  leads  many  a mind  to  some- 
thing far  beyond  it,  when  properly  understood  and  judi- 
ciously employed.  Such  Spiritualism  is  of  great  value 
as  a factor  in  human  progress. 

Now,  if  you  remove  from  your  thoughts  all  limited 
personal  ideas  of  a deity,  who  is  a great  Frenchman, 
German,  or  Englishman,  you  are  no  longer  addressing 
some  individual  intelligence  greatly  interested  in  the 
welfare  of  some  particular  country,  and  who  has  not  yet 
outgrown  earthly  ideas  of  patriotism.  Spiritualism  has 
never  taught  that  a man  is  at  once  emancipated  from  all 
errors  and  limitations  by  quitting  the  mortal  form,  but, 
rather,  the  deduction  from  all  Spiritualistic  teachings  is 
that  we  begin  in  the  state  beyond  the  grave  just  where 
we  left  off  on  this  side  of  it.  Many  people  pray,  no 
doubt,  to  intelligences  who  have  a particular  regard  for 
their  own  individual  welfare,  and  they  ask  to  be  helped 
forward  by  such  in  their  business  and  all  private  enter- 
prises ; such  prayer  is  not  addressed  to  a Supreme  Being 
at  all.  Now  is  this  kind  of  prayer  desirable?  It  is  not, 
if  it  is  inconsistent  with  the  idea  of  universal  human 
brotherhood.  A great  many  people  at  the  time  of  the 
Franco-Prussian  War  prayed,  ^‘God  bless  France,”  and 
they  meant,  God  curse  Germany ; and  a great  many 
other  people  prayed,  God  bless  Germany,”  and  they 


354 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


meant,  God  curse  France.  Is  such  prayer  desirable? 
Decidedly  it  is  not.  It  is  quite  possible  to  draw  to  your 
aid  individual  intelligences  who  love  one  country  and 
hate  another ; it  is  quite  possible  to  draw  around  you  a 
class  of  influences  that  will  endeavor  to  build  you  up 
on  the  ruins  of  somebody  else ; but  you  cannot  conduct 
any  reform  on  these  grounds,  and  you  will  be  successful 
in  any  reform  measure  only  as  you  rise  to  the  higher 
Spiritualism,  which  is  one  with  pure  Theism,  as  it 
acknowledges  one  inflnite  intelligence  which  loves  all 
mankind  alike. 

We  have  no  doubt  but  your  brother  may  care  more 
for  you  than  he  does  for  any  other  person’s  brother ; 
your  mother  is,  very  probably,  more  interested  in  your 
welfare  than  in  the  welfare  of  some  other  woman’s  child ; 
no  doubt  you  can  commune  with  your  particular  friends 
and  receive  tokens  of  their  identity,  and  be  aided  con- 
stantly by  them ; but  while  all  this  may  be  perfectly 
true,  it  only  constitutes  the  smaller  circle ; it  is  a per- 
petuation of  earthly  relationship  or  of  tribal  and  clan- 
nish affection : this  may  be  perfectly  well  when  included 
in  the  Divine  Circle  of  universal  fraternity,  but  it  is 
altogether  mischievous  and  misleading  when  excluded 
from  that  Divine  Circle. 

We  have  no  objection  to  people  communing  with  their 
spirit  friends  and  receiving  assistance  from  them,  nor 
have  we  the  least  doubt  that  numbers  are  guided  to-day 
by  individual  spirit  friends ; but  when  we  pray  in  pres- 
ence of  a public  audience,  where  all  states  and  condi- 
tions of  men,  women,  and  children  may  be  represented, 
where  there  may  be  delegates  from  all  nations,  we  should 


LECTURE  XVI. 


355 


not  pray  to  our  aunts,  we  should  not  address  our  invoca- 
tions to  individual  spirits  who  are  limited  in  power  and 
affection ; for  while  they  can  be  communicated  with,  and 
can  be  helpful  to  us  in  our  individual  capacities,  they 
are  very  likely  to  have  private  prejudices  and  personal 
feelings  much  as  they  had  on  earth. 

Now,  if  there  is  to  be  any  true  reform,  that  reform 
must  be  conducted  on  the  basis  of  Theosophy.  True 
Theosophy  is  Spiritualism,  and  true  Spiiitualism  is 
Theosophy.  The  foundation  of  Theosophy  is  the  recog- 
nition of  universal  brotherhood ; no  more,  no  less.  Ac- 
knowledge universal  brotherhood,  and  you  are  a Tlieoso- 
phist  in  principle,  for  that  is  the  whole  foundation  of 
Theosophy.  You  may  build  thereon  a structure  of  gold, 
silver,  and  other  valuable  things,  beautiful  and  useful, 
or  you  may  build  thereon  a structure  of  hay  and  stubble 
which  will  be  overturned  as  soon  as  the  fires  of  adverse 
criticism  approach  it;  but  the  foundation  of  Theoso- 
phy is  always  universal  brotherhood,  and  universal 
brotherhood  necessitates  a recognition  of  one  life  princi- 
ple, one  unitary  spirit. 

Thus,  while  Spiritualism  includes  communion  with 
individual  minds  and  all  the  psychical  associations  we 
can  possibly  conceive  of ; while  it  affirms  ‘‘  there  is  no 
death,”  that  none  are  dead,  but  when  our  friends  drop 
the  mortal  form,  they  only  vanish  from  our  personal 
sight,  and  are  just  as  truly  related  to  us  and  as  near  to 
us,  and  perhaps  nearer  and  more  intimately  connected 
in  spirit,  than  ever  before,  — while  Spiritualism  acknowl- 
edges all  this,  the  acknowledgment  of  one  Supreme 
Being  is  the  inclusive  acknowledgment  of  the  unity  of 


356 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


all  life,  and  is  the  only  foundation  for  the  doctrine  of 
universal  brotherhood,  which  is  the  basis  of  all  reform, 
as  it  is  the  basis  of  all  reasonable  science,  religion,  and 
philosophy. 

Mrs.  Emma  Hardinge  Britten,  acknowledged  in  Eng- 
land and  elsewhere  as  one  of  the  most  eminent  and 
instructive  inspirational  speakers  Avho  have  appeared 
before  the  world  in  advocacy  of  Modern  Spiritualism, 
states  that  through  her  mediumship  there  have  been  for- 
mulated five  great  propositions  constituting  a spiritual 
creed:  the  first  is  the  fatherhood  of  God;  the  second, 
the  brotherhood  of  man.  Then  she  goes  on  to  deal  very 
forcibly  with  individual  human  responsibility,  with  a 
progressive  life  after  death,  and  with  spiritual  communi- 
cation; but  the  foundation  is  the  parenthood  of  Deity. 
Parenthood  is  an  ampler  word  than  fatherhood;  as  it  in- 
cludes the  fatherhood  and  motherhood  of  Deity,  there  is 
the  same  difficulty  with  the  word  Irotherhood^  because 
we  acknowledge  sisterhood  as  well  as  brotherhood,  and 
as  we  need  a term  for  God  which  signifies  the  infinite 
father  and  mother,  we  need  an  idea  of  brotherhood 
which  includes  sisterhood : in  these  matters  language  is 
at  present  defective  and  needs  enriching. 

But  all  wording  aside,  the  idea  is  ever  that  of  parent 
and  child.  The  due  acknowledgment  of  one  Infinite 
Spirit  is  the  great  need  of  the  age,  as  it  is  the  founda- 
tion of  all  genuine  reform.  A lower  form  of  spiritual 
thought  is  at  the  base  of  all  theological  errors  and  mis- 
representations. Calvin  taught  that  God  loved  some 
people  and  hated  others ; Calvin’s  God  had  some  favor- 
ites, and  some  whom  he  had  determined  to  damn  forever. 


LECTURE  XVI. 


35T 


Calvin’s  idea,  no  more  than  Mohammed’s,  which  takes 
the  same  view,  can  ever  be  the  basis  of  a universal 
religion.  Many  people  declare  that  religion  has  been 
the  cause  of  persecution ; we  say  that  persecution  comes 
from  the  acknowledgment  that  God  loves  some  people 
and  hates  others.  The  acknowledgment  that  there  is 
one  Infinite  Spirit  who  loves  every  one  equally,  and  that 
we  are  all  equally  participants  in  the  Divine  care  and 
recipients  of  the  Divine  influx,  could  never  have  lighted 
the  fires  of  Smithfield  or  brought  about  the  persecution 
of  Catholics  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  or  burned 
witches  at  Salem  in  Massachusetts. 

If  people  to-day  would  acknowledge  the  one  Infinite 
Spirit,  and  also  use  common  sense,  they  would  soon  find 
that  common  sense  is  quite  enough  to  convince  them 
that  persecution  is  indefensible,  and  that  the  acknowl- 
edgment of  one  Infinite  Spirit  never  led  to  persecution. 
The  worship  of  a Jewish  God,  who  loved  only  Jews,  led 
to  persecution.  Worship  of  a God  who  loved  one  church 
and  not  another,  led  to  persecution;  but  the  acknowl- 
edgment of  one  Infinite  Spirit,  in  whose  sight  all  are 
equal,  in  whom  all  live  and  move  and  have  their  being, 
not  only  can  never  lead  to  persecution,  but  is  the  only 
effectual  means  of  its  removal. 

If  we  believe  in  no  Supreme  Spirit,  but  have  in  place 
of  one  Infinite  Being  any  number  of  finite  intelligences 
who  may  all  exercise  their  preferences,  we  retain  all  the 
objectionable  features  of  religion  and  refuse  its  advan- 
tages. All  that  is  unworthy  and  that  leads  to  persecu- 
tion and  cruelty  could  be  preserved  and  presented  under 
the  name  of  Spiritualism,  but  so  soon  as  we  acknowledge 


358 


STUDIES  IK  THEOSOPHY. 


the  absolute  oneness  of  the  Infinite,  and  in  consequence 
thereof  the  absolute  oneness  of  all  human  life  in  the 
Infinite  Being,  then  we  can  account  for  universal  law ; 
then  we  can  see  why  the  order  of  the  universe  is  un- 
changing ; then  we  can  see  how  it  is  natural  for  us  all 
to  be  good,  powerful,  wise,  and  noble;  why  Ave  should 
all  love  one  another  — love  every  one  and  hate  no  one ; 
why  we  should  mete  out  to  every  one  the  same  justice 
we  desire  meted  out  to  ourselves. 

No  matter  how  widely  people  may  wander  from  the 
literal  word,  if  they  pray  in  a spirit  of  universal  love, 
they  will  receive  an  answer  of  blessing.  If  one  prays 
that  some  one  may  leave  him  a sum  of  money,  it  is  very 
uncertain  whether  he  will  get  it  or  not.  But  if  we  ac- 
knowledge that  the  Infinite  Spirit  is  equally  interested 
in  the  welfare  of  all  humanity,  we  cannot  pray  to  the 
Supreme  Being  to  dispose  the  minds  of  so-and-so  to 
leave  us  their  money,  and  vainly  imagine  that  we  may 
get  it,  because  God  may  be  fonder  of  us  than  of  some 
others.  The  only  intelligent  prayer  Ave  can  offer  is,  that 
Ave  may  be  led  so  to  conduct  ourselves  as  to  do  the 
greatest  good  in  our  day  and  generation.  We  should 
pray  for  the  universal  welfare  of  mankind,  and  for  our 
OAvn  individual  Avelfare  only  as  it  is  contributive  to  the 
general  welfare.  Some  will  ask,  ‘‘What  is  the  use  of 
offering  prayer?  It  cannot  alter  God  nor  change  na- 
ture.” Our  answer  is.  Prayer  improves  and  develops 
us ; prayer  is  for  our  benefit ; it  is  not  intended  to  effect 
any  alteration  in  the  Infinite  Spirit,  or  to  change  the 
order  of  nature. 

It  really  seems  childish  to  occupy  space  in  defending 


LECTURE  XVI. 


359 


what  all  can  prove  for  themselves.  If  you  never  pray, 
you  do  not  and  cannot  know  whether  prayer  is  answered 
or  not,  for  you  cannot  prove  anything  rightly  except  as 
you  yourself  deal  with  it  dispassionately ; and  if  you  do 
not  pray  in  the  universal  spirit,  though  you  may  say, 

“ O God,”  you  may  be  praying,  not  to  the  Eternal,  but 
to  some  limited  influence  that  represents  God  to  your 
mind. 

Spiritualists  and  all  others  need  to  realize  that  the 
one  Infinite  Spirit  of  life,  who  is  the  essential  life  of 
all  the  universe,  is  the  only  proper  object  of  adoration. 
We  hear  some  very  foolish  and  conceited  people  say 
that  there  is  no  power  in  the  universe  greater  than 
themselves.  We  should  advise  those  people  to  attack 
that  immutable  ‘‘law”  which  they  acknowledge,  and 
see  whether  it  will  break  them  or  they  will  break  it. 
All  human  intelligence  evolves  power,  and  power  is 
ever  measured  by  knowledge.  The  more  we  know,  the 
more  powerful  we  are ; the  more  our  intelligence  un- 
folds, the  more  control  we  have  over  the  earth.  Behind 
all  phenomena,  intelligence  is  the  cause  of  all  organiza- 
tion. Organization  does  not  develop  without  intelli- 
gence Avhich  fashions  organization,  and  organisms,  which 
are  expressions  of  intelligence,  are  ever  modified  and 
improved  as  the  intelligence  expressing  through  them 
gains  more  and  more  ascendency  over  the  external 
form. 

Now,  we  should  never  ask  any  one  to  do  anything  he 
does  not  feel  he  can  do  conscientiously ; and  while  the  , 
word  fool  is  a harsh  word  though  employed  in  some 
versions  of  the  Old  Testament,  we  consider  it  perfectly 


360 


STUDIES  Iisr  THEOSOPHY. 


legitimate  to  use  the  text  when  it  appears  in  its  revised 
form,  The  foolish  one  has  said  in  his  heart,  There  is  no 
God,”  because  it  is  essentially  foolish  to  say  there  is  no 
God.  Some  people  make  a few  scientific  statements 
and  directly  afterward  make  a great  many  unscientific 
ones,  and  all  are  accepted  as  though  they  were  scientific 
by  people  who  do  not  reason  or  compare;  if  people 
would  only  bear  in  mind  the  proper  definition  of  science, 
which  is  knowledge,  there  would  be  no  farther  difficulty 
on  this  point.  The  foolish  one  has  said  in  his  heart. 
There  is  no  God.”  The  heart  is  not  the  intellect;  it 
always  stands  for  the  affections  : ‘‘  Keep  thy  heart  with 
all  diligence,  for  out  of  it  are  all  the  issues  of  life.” 
The  heart  is  the  seat  of  affection,  and  from  affection 
the  will  proceeds : the  wish,  we  say,  is  very  often  father 
to  the  thought.  David,  or  whoever  wrote  the  14th 
Psalm,  found  that  those  who  said  in  their  heart,  there  is 
no  God,  were  those  who  did  not  wish  any  God.  We 
do  not  say  that  all  atheists  are  insincere,  for  we  have 
known  many  atheists  (at  least  persons  usually  classed 
under  that  name)  Avho  were  as  sincere  as  any  people 
we  ever  met,  but  such  professed  atheists  were  usually 
in  a state  of  transitional  revolt  against  hypocrisy,  in 
matters  pertaining  to  religion,  of  which  they  had  unfor- 
tunately seen  a great  deal. 

While  it  is  the  foolish  one  who  is  ever  saying  in  his 
heart  there  is  no  good,  the  wise  one  is  always  saying  in 
his  heart  there  is  infinite  good  (saying  there  is  good 
means  speaking  the  word  of  good).  You  will  find  all 
through  the  Bible  and  in  all  occult  writings,  that  the 
spoken  word  is  alluded  to  as  bringing  everything  to 


LECTUKE  XVI. 


361 


pass.  The  Word  which  is  spoken  of  in  the  first  chapter 
of  the  fourth  Gospel  is  not  a personality,  but  the  Divine 
proceeding  influence ; the  light  which  enlightens  all ; 
the  universal  light ; the  universal  illumination ; the 
Word  made  manifest.  The  Word  is  the  Divine  intelli- 
gence in  man  made  manifest  through  man;  and  when 
we  allude  to  speaking  spiritually,  we  mean  expressing, 
sending  out  thought,  conveying  idea.  When  we  speak, 
we  let  our  voices  flow  out  with  the  intention  of  convey- 
ing an  idea,  and  whatsoever  we  say,  whether  we  repeat 
words  audibly,  or  simply  allow  our  thoughts  to  go  from 
our  minds  with  no  audible  utterance,  they  always  carry 
with  them,  wherever  they  travel,  the  nature  of  the 
thought  whence  they  proceed. 

If  you  are  in  a loving  frame  of  mind,  you  may  say 
some  things  that  sound  a little  unkind,  but  they  will 
not  harm  any  one ; but  if  you  are  feeling  unpleasantly, 
and  indulge  in  silent  utterances,  people  who  are  sensitive 
feel  they  have  been  stabbed  as  with  a dagger,  and  would 
very  much  rather  you  would  show  your  weapon  than 
conceal  it.  If  you  say  anything  in  your  heart,  whatso- 
ever it  may  be,  and  your  words  of  mouth  do  not  harmo- 
nize with  your  thoughts,  the  words  are  distinctly  not 
the  bearers  of  tidings  which  you  have  outwardly  ex- 
pressed, but  are  bearers  in  effect  of  tidings  directly 
opposite ; what  appear  to  be  kindly  words  may  be  the 
cruelest  of  blows ; and  all  mediumistic  people  feel  this 
keenly.  A letter  not  apparently  expressed  in  kindly 
language  may  do  great  good,  being  fraught  with  the 
invigorating  breath  of  a noble  mind,  while  the  most 
sweetly  worded  epistle  may  sting  like  an  adder. 


862 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


The  persons  whom  the  Psalmist  alluded  to  were  not 
in  the  love  of  good,  and  so  were  endeavoring  to  per- 
suade themselves  there  was  no  good  anywhere.  On 
the  basis  of  spiritual  science,  we  must  always  affirm 
that  all  is  good.  There  is  the  basis  of  reform.  It  is 
ridiculous  to  tell  persons  to  be  good  if  it  is  natural  for 
them  to  be  evil.  It  is  natural  for  a fish  to  swim  in 
water  and  for  a bird  to  fly  in  air : thus  it  would  be  in- 
sane folly  to  blame  a fish  because  it  cannot  fly,  or  a bird 
because  it  cannot  swim ; but  it  would  be  just  as  unrea- 
sonable if  persons  are  naturally  bad  to  expect  them  to 
be  good.  If  we  base  our  idea  of  human  nature  upon 
the  postulate  that  people  are  evil,  if  we  are  always 
telling  them  that  they  inherit  evil  and  are  by  nature 
totally  depraved,  it  is  all  in  vain  that  we  argue  with 
ourselves,  or  others,  to  live  lives  of  righteousness. 

What  is  the  good  of  thundering  from  the  Decalogue 
— “ Thou  shalt  not  steal  ” — at  poor  human  nature,  if 
it  is  natural  to  be  dishonest.  What  is  the  use  of  a 
command,  if  one  feels  all  the  time  that  persons  cannot 
execute  it.  Who  would  be  so  unreasonable  as  to  ex- 
pect a person  with  no  voice  to  sing  finely?  We  must 
acknowledge  that  man  has  the  power  to  obey  the 
Divine  Law,  or  the  intention  of  the  Divine  Will  is  ren- 
dered inconceivable.  Therefore,  take  as  the  only  basis, 
that  man  is  good,  pure,  noble,  and  just.  Spiritual 
science  holds  the  essence  of  all  reform,  and  it  is  indeed 
time  that  persons  lay  aside  their  old  false  methods,  and 
endeavor  to  put  the  precepts  of  the  Gospel  into  prac 
tice  instead  of  allowing  them  to  appear  as  impractically 
theoretical,  or  else  denying  them  because  they  do  not 


LECTURE  XVt. 


363 


understand  them,  owing  to  a lack  of  even  attempted 
application. 

Take  the  ground  that  every  one  is  essentially  good ; 
bring  up  children  to  feel  that  they  are  good  by  nature  ; 
never  tell  them  it  is  natural  to  do  wrong ; believe  chib 
dren  good,  and  put  them  upon  their  honor ; hold  them 
in  thought  as  good;  expect  them  to  be  good;  before 
you  leave  them  point  out  to  them  the  work  to  fulfill 
during  your  absence  ; do  not  tell  them  what  not  to  do, 
but  what  to  do ; give  them  credit  for  being  capable  of 
fulfilling  useful  works,  and  for  possessing  the  disposi- 
tion to  fulfill  them. 

The  basis  of  all  reform  is  spiritual  culture  ; man  is  in 
the  image  of  eternal  good  (not  evil).  To  recognize 
good  in  man  is  the  only  way  to  reform,  the  only  way  to 
thoroughly  protect  society,  as  it  is  the  only  way  to  pre- 
vent disease  — which  is  a great  deal  better  than  curing 
it ; the  only  way  to  prevent  vice  — which  is  a great 
deal  better  than  punishing  it.  Every  individual  (even 
‘‘  the  vilest  sinner  upon  the  face  of  the  earth  ”)  should 
be  held  as  not  only  capable  of  good,  but  as  desirous  of 
doing  good.  For  this  reason,  we  can  most  conscien- 
tiously endorse  the  efforts  of  the  Nationalists  who  are 
establishing  clubs  all  over  the  country,  using  Edward 
Bellamy’s  ‘‘Looking  Backward”  as  a text-book,  because 
Mr.  Bellamy,  in  that  thoroughly  practical  story,  points 
out  that  the  only  way  of  abolishing  the  competitive  sys- 
tem and  of  developing  an  intelligent  system  of  co-opera- 
tion, is  not  by  incendiarism,  anarchy,  or  any  form  of 
aggression  or  onslaught,  but  through  an  appeal  to  the 
divinity  in  human  nature.  If  we  want  to  make  people 


364 


STUDIES  IK  THEOSOPHY. 


good  in  action,  we  must  acknowledge  that  they  are  good 
at  the  core,  though  they  may  need  to  be  assisted  in  doing 
good ; but  instead  of  that,  society  insists  that  they  are 
evil.  San  Francisco  has  an  Industrial  School  ” which 
the  Evening  Report  of  that  city  denounced,  because  the 
influences  and  associations  in  that  school  are  neither 
reformatory  nor  industrial ; for,  instead  of  teaching  weak 
youth  to  live  nobly,  they  surround  undeveloped  children, 
prone  to  error,  with  the  very  vicious  influences  they 
should  be  shielded  from,  and  then  people  wonder  why 
they  are  worse  when  they  are  turned  out  of  the  institu- 
tion than  they  were  when  they  went  in.  If  you  culti- 
vate weeds,  and  do  all  in  your  power  to  bring  them  to 
perfection,  you  need  not  be  astonished  if  they  grow  very 
luxuriantly,  and  you  need  not  say  the  soil  is  bad  because 
it  bears  nothing  but  weeds.  If  you  have  been  cultivat- 
ing weeds  by  mistake,  thinking  that  a weed  in  its  germ 
is  a flower  when  you  cannot  tell  the  difference  in  its 
earlier  growth,  even  though  you  do  this  in  ignorance, 
you  will  get  a crop  of  weeds.  Now,  we  do  not  say  that 
hospitals,  houses  of  correction,  penitentiaries,  and  indus- 
trial schools  have  not  had  for  their  object  the  protection 
of  society, — the  popular  feeling  is  in  the  direction  of  try- 
ing to  protect  society,  — but  we  do  say  that  the  present 
course  is  an  entirely^  mistaken  one.  Sinners  need  to  be 
associated  with  saints,  and  it  is  only  a saint  who  can 
very  safely  associate  with  sinners.  Instead  of  sinners 
being  put  with  sinners  and  saints  with  saints,  let  the 
saints  go  among  the  sinners  and  reform  them,  and  let 
the  sinners  go  among  the  saints  and  get  reformed.  If 
sinners  are  led  to  know  that  they  are  capable  of  a better 


LECTUKE  XVl. 


365 


life,  and  that  there  is  a better  way  open  for  them,  they 
will  only  be  too  glad,  with  better  associations  than  those 
of  old,  to  take  the  upward  instead  of  the  downward 
grade. 

A great  many  people  divide  society  into  two  parts  or 
sections,  as  though  some  people  were  all  divine  and 
others  all  diabolical ; but  those  who  mingle  with  man- 
kind at  large  find  the  worst  and  the  best  specimens  of 
human  nature  equally  among  millionaires  and  among 
people  who  have  not  a dollar  to  their  name.  Some 
people  wretchedly  poor  are  the  noblest  and  purest  one 
can  meet ; others  are  as  degraded  as  they  can  well  be. 
We  do  not  denounce  capitalists,  but  we  do  denounce 
selfishness ; we  do  not  denounce  any  class  of  people  and 
say  that  all  the  black  sheep  are  in  one  fold,  for  in  every 
fold  there  are  black  sheep  and  white  sheep ; but  all  black 
sheep  can  be  made  to  shed  their  wool,  and,  if  properly"' 
fed,  new  wool  will  grow  out  white. 

When  we  work  to  develop  good,  we  develop  as  a result 
a new  shell  or  skin,  and  having  no  use  for  the  old,  we 
let  it  go ; it  will  cast  itself  aside.  All  good  writers  on 
phrenology  declare  that  there  can  be  no  reform  except 
through  the  stimulation  of  the  faculties  we  wish  to 
see  developed.  Man  is  good  at  the  core.  Human 
nature  is  naturally  good;  goodness  is  natural  to  all 
mankind.  Deep  below  all  debris  of  error,  below  all 
incrustations  of  folly  and  vice,  there  is  divinity  in  every 
human  soul ; acknowledge  it,  speak  to  it,  and  it  will 
respond. 


LECTURE  XVII. 


THE  ATTITUDE  OF  THEOSOPHY  TOWARD  SPIRITUALISM 

AND  ALL  THE  GREAT  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD. 

Do  Theosophists  admit  communion  with  the  spirit 
world  ? is  a question  which  troubles  many  and  occasions 
much  controversy. 

There  is  in  many  quarters  a decided  misapprehension 
as  to  what  Theosophy  really  teaches  on  this  point. 
Theosophy  does  not  approve  of  ^‘business  mediumship,” 
but  neither  do  many  earnest  and  ardent  Spiritualists, 
of  whom  may  be  mentioned  Professor  Kiddle  of  New 
York.  Communion  with  the  spirit  world  for  mundane 
advantage  is  attended  with  grave  risks  and  dangers. 
Theosophists  hold  that  passive  mediumship  should  be 
superseded  by  spiritual  illumination,  which  is  certainly 
very  different  from  automatic  mediumship.  Mediumis- 
tic  power  is  not  necessarily  associated  with  intellectual 
vigor  or  moral  excellence  ; it  is  often  nothing  more  than 
mesmeric  sensitiveness,  the  medium  serving  as  a ther- 
mometer to  register  the  condition  of  the  pal§^ing  hour. 
We  must  advance  higher  and  cultivate  genuine  spiritual 
gifts.  If  we  cultivate  our  spiritual  nature,  we  cannot 
help  seeing  into  the  spiritual  world  and  enjoying  spirit- 
ual revelation.  When  any  one  drags  mediumship  down 
to  the  level  of  a money-making  business,  or  abuses  it 


LECTUHE  XVII. 


367 


to  gratify  idle  curiosity,  such  communion  with  the  in- 
visible world  is  invariably  detrimental  to  all  concerned. 
Theosophy  urges  such  Spiritualists  as  do  thus  to  look 
higher,  and  all  the  best  writers  on  Spiritualism  teach 
the  same.  We  must  make  an  effort  to  cultivate  and 
spiritualize  ourselves  instead  of  seeking  to  bring  the 
spirit  world  down  to  earth  and  materializing  it.  While 
our  own  mental  development  is  confined  to  a sensuous, 
phenomenal  plane,  we  are  subject  to  dangers  and  mis- 
takes of  every  description.  We  do  not  intend  to  advo- 
cate Materialism  with  another  name.  The  more  fully 
a spirit  is  delivered  from  earthly  affections  and  interest 
in  earthly  affairs,  the  more  that  spirit  is  satisfied  to  live 
in  a purely  spiritual  state  of  being,  holding  communion 
through  spiritual  affinity  with  man’s  higher  spiritual 
principle  rather  than  through  physical  phenomena. 
We  know  of  widows  who  have  no  desire  for  sensuous 
communication  with  departed  husbands,  for  they  tell 
us  when  they  enjoy  an  unbroken  night’s  sleep  they  feel 
themselves  with  their  loved  ones  in  a boundless  spiritual 
world.  They  cannot  fully  remember  the  superior  state 
when  in  mortal  consciousness,  but  they  feel  on  waking 
that  they  have  only  just  returned  from  a visit  to  hus- 
band and  children ; they  sometimes  hear  themselves 
saying  good-bye  ” to  their  spiritual  associates  on  wak- 
ing. This  is  true  spiritual  communion  and  permits  of 
no  deception  and  no  intermission ; nothing  can  break 
this  union,  — no,  not  any  number  of  terrestrial  embodi- 
ments. Theosophy  is  a high  phase  of  Spiritualism,  and 
there  is  no  contradiction  or  discrepancy  between  the 
two.  When  we  see  only  a little  of  Theosophy,  it  may 


868 


STUDIES  m THEOSOPHY. 


appear  to  us  hostile  to  Spiritualism,  but  when  we  study 
it  more  thoroughly  we  see  no  conflict  whatever.  Spirit- 
ualism should  mean  communion  with  the  spirit  world 
through  the  unfoldment  of  our  spiritual  nature.  An 
ordinary  mistaken  idea  of  mediumship  is  that  for  all 
information  and  guidance  in  mundane  affairs  we  are 
abjectly  dependent  on  extraneous  intelligences.  Theos- 
ophy claims  that  we  can  all  develop  independent  clair- 
voyance and  psychometric  power  to  some  degree,  — not 
in  all  instances  equally,  however.  We  shall  not  want 
another  spirit  to  show  us  the  spiritual  world  when  we 
have  the  use  of  our  spiritual  eyes,  which  comes  with  the 
development  of  our  sixth  sense.  We  endorse  medium- 
istic  power  as  siipplementary^  but  not  as  substitutionary. 
Rightly  understood  it  means  voluntary  spiritual  co- 
operation, not  arbitrary  coercive  control  over  one  mind 
by  another.  Mediums  should  live  what  they  are  inspired 
to  teach.  True  Theosophy  acknowledges  that  we  can 
receive  much  from  the  spirit  world  that  we  can  obtain 
in  no  other  way,  but  we  must  cultivate  ourselves  to  do 
so.  We  are  living  to-day  as  spiritual  beings  in  a spirit- 
ual world ; and  while  with  our  physical  eyes  we  behold 
matter,  with  our  inward  eyes  we  can  look  upon  an  in- 
terior universe.  Concerning  the  ‘^astral”  world,  the 
astral  interpenetrates  the  physical.  If  we  see  a dog’s 
footprint  on  the  floor,  it  is  not  necessary  that  we  see 
a dog  enter  or  leave  a room  to  know  that  a dog  has 
been  there.  On  seeing  a human  footprint  we  can  judge 
about  how  large  the  person  is  who  made  it.  Similarly 
on  the  astral  atmosphere,  every  thought  makes  its  im- 
pression ; our  thoughts  and  desires  all  leave  prints  on 


LECTURE  XVII. 


369 


the  astral  ‘‘sands  of  time.”  A seer  can  see  these  thought- 
impressions  as  with  our  physical  eyes  we  can  track  foot- 
prints across  the  snow.  A clairvoyant  is  merely  one 
who  can  look  on  the  astral  atmosphere  and  see  what  is 
reflected  there.  All  material  forms  are  results  of  astral 
vibrations,  which  in  their  turn  are  due  to  spiritual  vibra- 
tions ; spirit  is  force  and  life  per  se.  In  a descending 
chromatic  scale  nature  slides  down  in  man  from  atma 
to  spiritual  soul,  from  spiritual  soul  to  intellectual  soul, 
thence  to  astral  body,  and  from  astral  body  to  material 
body;  the  astral  realm  is  intermediary  between  the 
spiritual  and  the  physical.  Both  Spiritualists  and  The- 
osophists  have  grasped  the  fact  that  the  “disembodied” 
can  commune  with  man  and  produce  all  kinds  of  psychic 
phenomena.  The  trained  occultist  can  command  a table 
to  move,  and  it  will  move  in  obedience  to  his  will.  Peo- 
ple often  attribute  wonderful  powers  and  much  wisdom 
to  “spirits”  which  they  in  large  measure  possess  in  them- 
selves. We  need  to  discover  the  psychical  powers  em- 
bodied in  us,  and  we  must  not  imagine  that  death  will 
give  us  anything,  neither  will  it  deprive  us  of  anything 
really  ours.  The  odic  (all-pervading)  force  in  the  uni- 
verse we  can  all  discover  and  understand ; it  is  not  un- 
knowable. We  have  not  yet  discovered  anything  like 
all  the  power  we  possess  to  produce  psychic  phenomena  ; 
but  there  is  a great  difference  between  the  conscious  illu- 
mination of  the  adept  and  the  unconscious  passivity  of 
the  medium ; the  latter  is  certainly  the  lower  condition. 
If  through  passivity  we  receive  spiritual  tidings,  and 
a message  cannot  be  verified,  we  have  to  take  another’s 
word  for  its  verity,  and  though  the  words  may  be  beauti- 


370  STUDIES  m THEOSOPHY. 

ful  and  helpful  in  some  instances,  they  may  not  be  all 
true ; but  when  we  have  developed  our  own  psychic 
powers  there  can  be  no  room  for  doubt,  because  though 
still  in  the  body,  we  can  look  into  and  travel  in  the 
spirit  world.  If  we  could  only  remember  the  astral 
excursions  we  often  make  in  our  nocturnal  rambles, 
we  should  learn  that  every  time  we  are  sound  asleep 
we  visit  our  spirit  home  ” ; we  travel  in  our  astral 
body  here,  there,  and  everywhere.  One  who  has  devel- 
oped his  higher  principle  can  consciously  pass  the  exter- 
nal barrier  and  roam  at  will  in  the  astral  world.  When 
we  are  in  a condition  of  spiritual  receptivity,  we  hear 
from  our  spirit  friends  as  we  now  hear  from  one  an- 
other on  earth,  and  we  can  see  them  as  plainly  as  we 
see  each  other’s  bodies;  tidings  of  them  are  then  no 
longer  hypothetical.  Let  us  add  to  our  belief  faiths 
and  to  our  faith  spiritual  knowledge ; then  we  shall  in 
our  relations  with  ‘‘departed”  friends  know  nothing 
of  even  a thin  veil  between  us. 

Our  opinion  of  spiritualistic  phenomena  is  that  phe- 
nomena when  genuine  are  often  unsatisfactory  and 
ambiguous.  Human  conditions  are  such  that  the  astral 
light  in  which  clairvoyants  see  is  usually  so  perturbed 
that  they  cannot  see  clearly,  and  so  get  only  a confused 
vision  of  one’s  surroundings.  Societies  for  spiritual 
culture  and  the  unfoldment  of  psychic  powers  should 
be  formed  in  private  homes;  promiscuous  developing 
circles  are  not  desirable.  A large  percentage  of  the 
entire  human  family  can  develop  psychic  power  to  a 
wonderful  degree.  Let  every  one  allow  his  spiritual 
nature  full  scope,  put  away  all  prejudice,  and  invite 


LECTURE  XVII. 


371 


the  soul  to  declare  itself.  We  do  not  repudiate  me- 
diumistic  phenomena,  but  desire  to  develop  mediumship 
to  the  plane  of  a high  order  of  intelligence.  The  astral 
world  is  as  full  of  cemeteries  as  the  earth  is ; for  as  the 
spirit  passes  to  a higher  life,  the  astral  body  is  left  be- 
hind in  the  astral  sphere,  as  the  physical  body  is  left 
behind  in  this  sphere,  where  it  gradually  disintegrates  as 
the  higher  principle  recedes  entirely  from  it.  All  physi- 
cal vital  force  emanates  from  the  astral  body ; the  astral 
body  can  suffer  the  amputation  of  its  members,  but  the 
spiritual  body  is  always  intact.  Our  higher  spiritual 
principle  is  in  the  spirit  world  always.  Phenomena  are 
only  valuable  when  demonstrative  of  truth.  Theoso- 
phy is  intended  to  bring  people  into  higher  relation  with 
those  spiritual  forces  of  the  universe  that  exist  within 
ourselves  as  well  as  all  around  us.  “ The  proper  study 
of  mankind  is  man.”  Theosophy  aims  at  the  elevation 
of  man  to  a spiritual  plane  of  consciousness  and  love 
while  here  on  earth.  Unlimited  progress  hereafter  is 
assured  for  every  spirit. 

All  the  elements  are  peopled  with  spirits ; there  is 
nothing  without  its  spirit ; to  use  kabbalistic  terms,  no 
fire  without  its  presiding  Salamanders,  no  water  with- 
out its  Undines,  no  earth  without  Gnomes,  or  air  with- 
out Sylphs.  Man  contains  these  four  elements  within 
himself.  The  salamanders  correspond  to  his  affections, 
the  uridines  to  his  reason,  the  sylphs  to  his  imagination, 
and  the  gnomes  to  his  animal  passions.  If  men  gratify 
their  lower  instincts  they  attract  these  lower  forces,  and 
herein  lies  the  true  philosophy  of  ghosts  and  appari- 
tions. The  miser  has  united  himself  with  the  spirits  of 


372 


STUDIES  m THEOSOPHY. 


earth ; for  by  the  worship  of  gold  in  thought,  and  per- 
petual striving  for  wealth,  we  come  under  the  dominion 
of  the  elementary  forces  of  the  plane  invoked.  If  we 
live  in  thought  on  the  animal  plane,  we  cannot  absorb 
or  respond  to  spiritual  truth.  What  do  we  know  of 
life  immortal  when  we  keep  the  spiritual  in  the  back- 
ground and  the  physical  in  the  ascendant?  Were  such 
a one  to  pass  out  of  the  physical  form,  he  would  be 
entirely  out  of  his  sphere,  and  would  find  himself  in  a 
state  he  could  not  enjoy  were  he  miraculously  translated 
to  heaven.  Theosophy  points  out  two  paths,  as  Jesus 
showed  them,  — the  broad  way  with  many  travelers,  and 
the  narrow  way  with  but  few  going  along  it.  Jesus 
was  undoubtedly  a prince  among  Theosophists.  Occult 
records  inform  us,  that  between  the  ages  of  twelve 
and  thirty,  he  traveled  extensively,  visiting  in  Egypt, 
Persia,  India,  etc.,  the  most  powerful  lodges  on  earth, 
as  one  of  their  greatest  and  most  glorious  teachers. 
Christians  accept  Jesus,  and  blindly  reject  Gautama; 
but  no  comparison  need  be  instituted  between  the  two, 
as  their  teachings  were  exactly  the  same.  If  any  Chris- 
tian thinks  he  would  benefit  by  becoming  a Buddhist, 
he  makes  a great  mistake,  for  the  two  religions.  Bud- 
dhism and  Christianity,  when  esoterically  studied,  are 
found  identical.  The  great  importance  of  the  Oriental 
aspect  of  Theosophy  is  that  it  is  breaking  down  the 
wall  of  prejudice  which  has  so  long  existed  between  the 
East  and  the  West.  Popular  Christianity  has  contended 
that  the  poor  East  could  have  no  gospel  unless  the 
West  carried  it  there;  the  East  is  reciprocating,  and 
showing  the  West  its  meed  of  truth.  The  East  is,  in 


LECTURE  XVII. 


373 


some  respects,  more  privileged  than  the  West,  for  dur- 
ing several  thousands  of  years  Asia  represented  the 
highest  development  of  civilization.  In  coming  epochs 
the  West  will  be  the  great  center  of  spiritual  activity. 
Theosophy  is  not  an  exotic  that  belongs  to  any  special 
clime,  but  is  everywhere  an  indigenous  plant,  true 
religion  being  the  same  in  every  clime  and  age ; but 
Western  minds  are  somewhat  dependent  on  the  East  to 
teach  them  certain  things,  as  children  are  dependent  on 
those  already  educated,  in  matters  concerning  which 
they  are  as  yet  ignorant;  but  every  one  becomes  a 
teacher  in  his  turn.  If  Mahatmas^  Chelas^  and  other 
mystics  are  your  instructors  in  occult  wisdom,  they 
enjoy  no  prerogative  that  others  do  not  share,  they  only 
help  their  younger  brethren  to  become  educated  like 
themselves ; they  prepare  pupils  to  interpret  universal 
mysteries,  and  to  use  occult  power  aright.  Only  a few 
are  willing  to  go  in  at  the  narrow  gate,  while  the  many 
enter  the  broad  gate  of  fashion.  There  is  no  reason 
why  any  of  us  should  not  some  day  interpret  all  mys- 
teries for  ourselves,  the  only  hindrance  to  our  doing  so 
is  that  theosophical  study  requires  of  us  a kind  of  life 
many  do  not  wish  to  live.  How  many  would  take  as 
much  time  and  trouble,  or  make  as  many  sacrifices  to 
attain  spiritual  good,  as  did  Kepler,  Copernicus,  or 
Galileo,  to  demonstrate  a problem  in  external  nature? 
and  yet  all  could  live  a truly  happy  life,  engaged  in  the 
acquisition  of  divine  wisdom.  All  the  ways  of  wisdom 
are  ways  of  pleasantness  and  paths  of  peace.  What- 
ever one  has  to  give  up  is  something  really  not  worth 
having ; the  pleasures  of  earth  are  counterfeit ; its  gold. 


374 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


though  glittering,  is  mere  tinsel ; its  acquisition  never 
brings  solid  happiness  as  it  is  the  outcome  of  selfishness, 
which  is  a vice.  Self-culture  can  be  consecrated  to  the 
highest  ends,  selfishness  never.  Subordinate  all  love  of 
self  to  love  of  neighbor  and  of  God.  Work  for  Truth 
and  for  humanity  with  all  your  might,  — these  are  the 
only  imperative  and  universal  rules  for  neophytes. 

‘‘Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart  for  they  shall  see 
God,”  say  all  the  masters.  The  sight  of  God  means 
spiritual  perception,  the  discovery  of  the  Divine  Being. 
Man  is  as  invisible  as  God,  in  whose  image  and  likeness 
he  is  made ; the  only  true  man  is  the  invisible  man. 
What  is  God  ? There  must  necessarily  be  mystery  con- 
cerning the  Divine  Indwelling  Presence.  All  we  know 
about  God  we  learn  in  our  higher  realm  of  life ; only 
the  higher  consciousness  of  man  can  realize  an  Infinite 
Good  Being  who  rules  over  all.  If  every  one  who 
doubts  the  being  of  God  could  enter  into  a state  of 
mind  in  which  he  felt  absolutely  certain  that  everything 
was  for  the  best,  without  a ripple  of  doubt  passing 
through  his  mind,  would  he  not  actually  see  God  with 
the  eye  of  the  soul,  as  an  all-satisfying,  all-consolatory 
reality,  as  he  felt  sure  that  everything  was  in  the  hand 
of  infinite  love  and  wisdom,  all  vessels  safely  conducted 
into  port,  piloted  by  a perfectly  skillful  and  loving 
commander?  If  trust  in  supreme  goodness  were  per- 
fect, how  our  minds  would  rest,  free  from  misery  of 
every  sort.  The  soul  finds  perfect  peace  in  realizing 
God.  Intuition  in  a higher  state  of  existence  is  devel- 
oped as  it  never  is  on  earth.  As  our  mental  horizon 
widens,  our  reason  confirms  and  comprehends  what  our 


LECTUEE  XVII. 


875 


intuition  apprehends  first.  When  we  find  God  in  our- 
selves we  shall  be  satisfied.  When  we  have  positively 
found  our  own  soul,  we  have  found  God ; but  knowl- 
edge of  the  soul  comes  only  through  spiritual  influx. 
In  spite  of  all  materialistic  negations,  there  is  more 
proof  of  the  soul’s  immortality  than  there  is  of  any 
demonstrated  scientific  fact,  as  the  realization  of  immor- 
tality is  far  more  universal  than  acquaintance  with  any 
physical  science. 

Theosophy  alone  can  answer  the  great  need  of  the 
world,  which  is  that  all  nations  should  recognize  their 
brotherhood,  which  unfortunately  they  do  not,  for  the 
most  civilized  still  follow  in  the  track  of  barbarians,  and 
look  upon  those  from  whom  they  are  separated  by  physi- 
cal barriers  as  foreigners ; the  peace  of  the  world  is 
thus  delayed.  Nations  contend  with  one  another  not 
only  for  territory  and  other  possessions,  but  also  for 
intellectual  differences  and  divers  theologies ; these 
struggles  are  not  confined  to  earth’s  inhabitants  alone, 
but,  as  St.  Paul  said,  we  do  not  only  war  with  flesh  and 
blood,  but  with  invisible  principalities  and  powers,  with 
unseen  hosts.  Christianity  has  long  outgrown  its  primi- 
tive recognition  of  a variety  of  unseen  influences  con- 
tinually attendant  upon  individuals  and  nations,  but 
according  to  all  ancient  theologies  every  one  has  per- 
sonal attending  influences,  as  well  as  household  lares 
et  penates  ” ; every  form  in  nature  has  also  its  represen- 
tative in  the  unseen  world,  and  every  nation  its  presid- 
ing divinity.  Jehovah,  in  the  narrow  sense,  was  not 
the  God  of  the  world,  but  exclusively  the  God  of  Israel, 
as  Zeus  was  the  God  of  the  Greeks,  and  under  the  name 


376 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


Jupiter,  of  the  Romans  also ; all  primitive  nations  had 
their  spiritual  hierarchs  devoted  to  their  special  cause ; 
and  to  them  the  people  offered  oblations  in  their  sanctu- 
aries, that  these  unseen  powers  might  fight  their  battles ; 
their  ideas  were  always  of  gods  and  lords  many.  All 
early  religions  were  forms  of  Spiritualism,  as  they  all 
recognized  spirits  around  them,  some  higher,  some  lower, 
who  could  serve  and  bless  them.  The  Semitic  races 
had,  however,  a glorious  conception  of  an  Infinite  in- 
dwelling as  well  as  over-ruling  Spirit,  who  found  his 
dwelling-place  in  the  hearts  and  minds  of  humanity, 
while  the  Aryan  races  made  much  of  spiritual  commu- 
nion. The  peculiar  trait  of  all  Semitic  people  was  their 
turning  to  the  still  small  Voice  of  God  within.  The 
Chaldean  religion  blended  both  the  Aryan  and  Semitic 
characteristics,  as  it  recognized  individual  spiritual  com- 
munion between  finite  intelligences  and  also  the  voice 
of  God  in  the  soul ; this  dual  conception  is  everywhere 
prevalent  to-day.  If  any  one  seeks  for  divine  wisdom, 
he  must  recognize  God  as  dwelling  in  humanity.  There 
can  be  no  universal  prosperity  till  all  nations  unite  in 
harmony.  Theosophy  is  a moral,  ethical,  humanitarian 
movement;  as  soon  as  we  feel  that  we  are  one  in 
spirit,  we  shall  know  that  all  men  are  brothers;  we 
cannot  then  behave  any  longer  as  if  we  were  not  all 
children  of  one  God.  Ethical  culture  and  moral  re- 
form will  build  the  structure  of  universal  freedom ; and 
the  present  theosophical  movement  in  the  minds  of 
men  is  the  sure  and  certain  harbinger  of  this  glorious 
consummation. 

We  can  hardly  think  of  a very  sensuous  person  as 


LECTURE  XYII. 


377 


highly  intellectual ; or  if  so,  he  is  not  intellectual  in  con- 
sequence of  animality,  but  in  spite  of  it.  The  animal 
impulse  does  not  naturally  seek  expression  in  literature 
or  art.  The  intellectual  and  moral  principles,  however, 
completely  harmonize.  A person  can  easily  possess  at 
the  same  time,  moral  and  intellectual  nobility,  and  be 
simultaneously  engaged  in  benevolence,  literature,  and 
art ; there  can  always  be  a dual  expression  of  the  soul, 
as  spirit  manifests  itself  in  love  and  wisdom.  The  ma- 
jority have  only  developed  their  intellectual  principle, 
and  therefore  have  no  conception  of  the  divine,  and 
only  a glimmering  consciousness  of  the  spiritual.  Such 
have  but  feeble  understanding  of  Truth ; they  may  cling 
to  creeds,  beliefs,  and  theories,  but  all  opinions  when 
compared  with  knowledge  are  as  twilight  to  sunshine  ; 
for  even  when  pure  and  ennobling,  they  are  not  demon- 
strable. When  the  spiritual  principle  is  developed, 
through  which  the  divine  can  shine,  we  shall  no  longer 
need  any  one  to  teach  us,  for  we  shall  then  receive 
unction  from  the  Holy  One  within.  The  personified 
Christ,  or  Buddha,  is  one  perfectly  developed  both  in 
his  intellectual  and  moral  nature  ; the  highest  intel- 
lect and  purest  morality  in  such  a one  are  jointly 
unfolded.  There  is  no  perfect  expression  of  the  soul 
except  in  masculine  and  feminine  form ; the  intellect 
and  moral  nature,  when  perfectly  united,  constitute  true 
spiritual  marriage.  Gautama  occupied  in  India  the 
same  relation  to  mankind  that  Jesus  occupied  550  years 
later  in  Palestine.  Once  in  about  every  600  years,  there 
is  a revival  of  spirituality  somewhere  on  earth ; then 
a greater  revival  every  2170  years,  or  thereabouts,  as 


378 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


there  are  twelve  dispensations  in  each  grand  cycle  of 
nearly  26,000  years.  About  600  years  after  Jesus,  Ma- 
homet inaugurated  the  faith  of  Islam,  one  of  the  great- 
est religious  systems  of  the  world  to-day ; 600  years 
later,  the  Waldenses  and  others  proclaimed  a spiritual 
form  of  Christianity,  and  at  the  present  time  there  are 
many  unmistakable  indications  of  a new  spiritual  dis- 
pensation on  earth. 

We  will  here  append  two  short  essays  on  Theosophy 
from  our  psychological  romance,  Onesimus  Toole,” 
serving  to  show  the  very  slight  difference  which  really 
exists  between  Theosophists  of  the  Christian  and  Bud- 
dhistic schools. 

This  essay  was  written  to  enforce  the  beauty  of  a 
Theosophy,  which  does  not  require  allegiance  to  the 
religion  of  India  in  any  particular  manner. 

Theosophy  is  the  master-key  to  eternal  life ; to  the  understand- 
ing of  God  and  man.  True  Theosophy  concerns  itself  exclusively 
with  man's  spiritual  development,  with  the  finding  of  the  Christ 
within,  the  Divine  Logos  or  Word  of  the  Eternal.  When  we  find 
God  within,  where  Jesus  and  Buddha  alike  say  God  resides,  w^e  truly 
realize  our  divine  nature.  Genuine  Theosophy  is  to  this  genera- 
tion the  Christ  of  truth  rising  out  of  the  tomb  of  error ; it  teaches 
complete  self-control,  the  crucifixion  of  the  senses,  the  liberation 
of  the  spirit  from  all  carnal  passion,  the  resurrection  of  all  that 
is  divine  within  us.  Theosophy  is  complete  spiritual  science. 
Knowledge  of  the  eternal  is  the  only  true  science.  To  know  the 
Christ  is  to  hear  the  living  Word  which  speaks  in  us  from  Infinite 
Divine  Being.  When  spirit  is  revealed,  henceforth  we  have  no 
thought  of  death.  The  true  Theosophist  drinks  in  inspiration 
from  the  ever-present  spiritual  life,  the  universe  thus  becomes 
to  him  an  open  book.  We  must  outgrow  false  ideas  of  sacer- 
dotalism, and  become  each  one  a true  priest ; our  daily  sacrifice 


LECTURE  XVII. 


879 


must  be  the  daily  surrender  of  our  lower  appetites  to  our  higher 
promptings. 

The  principles  of  Theosophy  are  love,  wisdom,  and  truth,  which 
reveal  to  us  in  measure  as  we  can  understand  it  the  absolute  purity 
and  perfection  of  the  divine  nature.  Theosophy  is  universal  truth 
and  universal  religion ; it  is  demonstrated  spiritual  science,  and 
holds  the  key  to  all  sciences  and  religions.  In  Theosophy  we 
behold  the  essential  unity  of  all  religions ; Theosophists  should 
study  all  religions,  but  dogmatically  enforce  none.  What  does 
religion  really  mean  ? Religio  signifies  to  bind  together,  but  does 
not  imply  a condition  of  bondage  other  than  that  bondage  in 
which  the  lower  nature  is  held  subject  to  the  higher.  This  is 
truly  atonement  or  reconciliation,  the  perfect  harmony  of  all  the 
elements  in  human  nature.  Religion  does  not  consist  in  belief  in 
immortality,  or  in  God.  Belief  saves  no  one  for  it  is  merely  intel- 
lectual assent  given  to  certain  dogmas.  One  can  believe  in  religion 
and  be  devilish.  The  devils,  it  is  said,  believe  and  tremble.  We 
can  be  so  intellectually  unfolded  as  to  believe  in  God  without  being 
in  the  least  developed  in  our  truly  spiritual  nature. 

What  does  resurrection  mean  in  our  individual  lives  ? It  means 
a rising  from  the  death  of  the  lower  nature  to  a condition  of  spirit- 
ual triumph.  Nothing  dies  in  reality,  only  in  seeming.  The  seed 
is  not  quickened  unless  it  undergoes  the  appearance  of  death,  and 
there  is  no  quickening  of  the  spirit  unless  there  is  in  appearance  a 
death  of  the  lower  nature ; then  from  the  sepulcher  the  rock  is 
rolled  away,  a symbol  of  our  new  birth  to  a knowledge  of  Truth. 
Theosophy,  like  all  true  religion,  is  the  science  of  right  living,  and 
is  in  no  sense  a sacerdotal  system.  Divine  wisdom  is  the  whole 
world’s  only  religion  for  the  future ; a religion  which  meets  every 
want  and  fully  satisfies  every  lawful  craving  of  human  emotion  as 
well  as  intellect. 

The  Divine  Being  is  necessarily  beyond  the  comprehension  of 
the  mind  of  man.  Man  is  not  equal  to  God  ; there  is  therefore  a 
mystery  attaching  to  God  in  the  human  mind.  That  which  is  on 
our  level  we  may  explain,  whatever  is  beyond  that  level  remains 
unsolved ; God  alone  understands  God,  as  man  alone  can  compre- 
hend man.  As  Deity  is  infinitely  above  us,  so  Deity  is  beyond  all 


380 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


definition.  The  soundest  metaphysicians  never  undertake  to  define 
Deity.  Agnosticism  is  a confession  of  honest  men  whose  intellects 
are  unable  to  solve  the  problem  of  being.  Theosophists  need  not 
conflict  with  Huxley  or  Spencer.  AU  divine  things  are  unknow* 
able  to  the  senses,  but  Theosophy  teaches  there  is  a spiritual 
intuition  by  which  we  can  arrive  at  some  knowledge  of  spirit, 
though  to  our  researches  there  can  be  no  end.  Intellectually  we 
find  not  God,  but  energy,  power,  force.  The  word  God  means  the 
All-Good,  the  Good  One,  nothing  more,  nothing  less. 

Plato’s  immortal  assertion,  God  geometrizes,”  does  not  imply 
Plato’s  acknowledgment  of  anything  more  than  infinite  Mind ; no 
kind,  loving  God  appears  in  that  sentence.  Infinite  power  might 
be  cruel.  Many  people  know  nothing  of  God  though  they  profess 
to  believe  in  God ; but  not  until  they  advance  beyond  belief  do 
they  find  the  Eternal.  Belief  implies  that  some  school  is  the 
custodian  of  special  intelligence  from  Deity,  whose  testimony  is 
accepted  by  the  disciples  as  final  authority.  The  word  Testament 
means  something  one  leaves  behind  him  when  he  is  gone  away ; 
while  the  testator  liveth,  such  documents  are  of  no  effect.  People 
who  know  nothing  of  God  but  what  they  read  in  the  Bible,  con- 
cerning which  venerable  book  we  would  indeed  utter  nothing 
disrespectful,  believe  in  a God  who  has  left  a Testament.  Practi- 
cally it  is  so  to  them.  Many  Christians  believe  in  a God  very 
far  from  this  world  and  in  no  direct  way  concerned  with  human 
affairs.  There  was,  they  believe,  a time  when  God  spoke  to  the 
world,  but  He  speaks  no  longer  ; God,  for  them,  has  finished  writ- 
ing His  book,  and  has  delivered  the  published  volume  completed 
into  their  hands.  How  utterly  incongruous  is  this  mental  attitude 
with  the  teachings  of  Jesus  : ‘‘He  hath  been  with  you  and  shall  be 
in  you.”  It  is  expedient  that  I go  away,  for  when  I have  vanished 
from  your  sight  the  Paraclete  will  be  nearer  to  you  than  ever 
before,  and  will  gradually  lead  you  into  all  truth.  The  disciples 
were  directed  not  to  receive  truth  through  any  written  revelation, 
but  entirely  by  means  of  the  ever-living  presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
within  them.  Theosophy  places  every  individual  soul  on  the  solid 
rock  of  experienced  truth  on  which  Theosophy  itself  is  based.  We 
must  build  our  social  temple  on  the  rock  of  impartial  justice,  which 


LECTURE  XYII. 


381 


we  can  never  find  until  we  discover  it  in  ourselves.  Enlighten- 
ment is  a matter  of  individual  spiritual  unfoldment ; God  is  Love 
and  Wisdom ; absolute  Justice  is  the  infinite  principle  of  Life. 
As  we  act  divinely  do  we  perceive  a revelation  of  divine  wisdom 
in  our  own  lives,  and  all  knowledge  of  wisdom  proceeds  from  the 
love  of  good  in  us,  which  is  the  only  divine  love.  Only  when  we 
act  from  a motive  of  love  directed  toward  good  are  our  acts  truly 
wise. 

Man’s  best  conception  of  Deity  is  that  God  is  love.  Love  is  the 
highest  element  in  the  human  soul,  and  is  inseparable  from  charity, 
which  is  love  in  expression. 

Henry  James  (an  earnest  student  of  Swedenborg;  not  the 
novelist)  declares  in  his  admirable  work,  ‘‘  Society  the  Redeemed 
Form  of  Man,”  that  in  studying  the  problem  of  life  one  comes  to 
see  ever  more  and  more  distinctly  that  the  only  possible  cause  of 
creation  is  that  God  being  pure  love  he  cannot  love  himself.  Love 
must  have  an  object,  and  this  object  is  humanity.  Creation,  then, 
is  the  result  of  the  divine  love  seeking  object  and  expression.  By 
humanity,  of  course,  we  do  not  mean  exclusively  the  inhabitants 
of  this  one  little  planet.  We  need  not  tell  you  that  the  earth  is 
not  the  universe.  We  mean  all  intelligent  inhabitants  of  all  worlds 
together,  which  unitedly  constitute  the  form  of  the  divine  man  or 
the  progeny  of  God,  which  is  without  beginning  and  without  end. 

The  true  hidden  wisdom  is  to  be  found  in  our  own  inmost 
selves,  not  in  books  or  scrolls.  God’s  living  word  is  man,  who  is 
the  highest  expression  of  nature.  The  hidden  wisdom  from  our 
own  souls  must  come  to  us  through  development  of  our  own  inner 
nature,  and  can  come  in  no  other  way.  Theosophy  does  not  de- 
pend on  legend,  or  our  belief  in  historical  personalities,  or  the 
truth  contained  in  any  sacred  books.  It  rests  on  its  own  intrinsic 
value,  and  appeals  to  our  moral  nature.  If  Buddha  and  Jesus 
never  lived,  their  teachings  are  no  less  valuable  to  man.  Precious 
stones  have  intrinsic  value,  and  truth  is  aptly  compared  to  a price- 
less pearl. 

All  divine  teaching  is  demonstrated  in  its  hallowing  influence 
exerted  on  human  life.  Judge  the  tree  by  its  fruits.  Bring  all 
theories  to  the  touch-stone  of  expediency.  Were  we  to  find  that 


382 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


the  teachings  of  the  Yedas  when  lived  up  to  caused  war  and  hatred 
to  vanish  from  the  earth,  we  should  thereby  know  the  source 
whence  these  streams  sprang  to  be  a fountain  of  living  water,  able 
to  slake  the  spiritual  thirst  of  mankind. 

There  is  nothing  in  the  Vedas  that  we  do  not  find  in  the  New 
Testament.  The  teachings  attributed  to  Buddha  and  Jesus  are 
identical.  We  can  well  dispense  with  controversy  when  we  drink 
from  inspiration.  Whether  we  look  to  Gautama  or  any  other  his- 
toric avatar  of  India,  or  to  Jesus,  the  historic  light  of  Palestine, 
or  to  Orisses,  the  legendary  messiah  of  Egypt,  we  must  never  forget 
that  neither  Orisses,  Christ,  or  Buddha,  or  what  they  typify,  is  dead 
and  buried.  In  spirit  Jesus  is  working  now  as  actively  as  when 
he  was  on  earth.  The  truth  Buddha  and  Orisses  revealed  is  still 
operating  in  the  world. 

Why  seek  ye  the  living  among  the  dead  ? ” Why  w^atch  by  a 
sepulcher,  when  you  can  converse  with  the  living  spirit  on  the 
highways  of  life  ? When  we  liberate  our  intuition  the  sun  within 
us  sheds  around  our  path  its  bright  beams  of  appreciable  light  and 
heat. 

Those  who  bathe  in  the  sunlight  hourly  appropriate  its  rays. 
Not  those  who  have  analyzed  the  w^ater  or  tested  the  depth  of  the 
well,  but  those  who  drink  the  water  of  life  reap  its  benefits.  Not 
our  historic  knowledge  of  a revelation  of  truth,  but  our  assimila- 
tion of  it  profits  us.  We  must  eat,  drink,  and  appropriate  the 
living  spirit  of  truth,  which  is  ever  active  throughout  the  universe. 
The  past  has  risen  in  the  present.  We  must  live  to-day,  not  wor- 
shipfully  regretting  days  of  old.  Our  present  at-one-ment  with  the 
living  Christ  of  the  spirit  can  alone  bring  us  into  consciousness  of 
Truth.  The  truths  of  spirit  are  not  apprehended  by  the  intellect 
first,  but  by  intuition  ; later  on,  reason  grapples  with  inward  reve- 
lation and  defines  it.  Be  guided  entirely  by  your  individual  intui- 
tion ; be  ever  honest  and  intensely  earnest  in  your  search  for  truth, 
and  you  will  each  one  of  you  discover  all  it  is  needful  for  you  to 
know. 

Races  of  Mahatmas  may  have  spent  ages  in  ferreting  out  the 
truths  of  the  universe,  but  their  existence  is  not  positively  known 
to  Buddhists.  Truth  is  revealed  only  to  those  who  are  in  a con- 


LECTURE  XVII. 


383 


dition  to  appreciate  it.  There  is  probably  no  reluctance  on  the 
part  of  any  genuine  Mahatmas  to  reveal  themselves,  but  no  one  can 
create  eyes  in  us  to  see  Truth  even  if  it  visits  us. 

When  Edwin  Arnold  revisited  India,  he  held  conferences  with 
the  Buddhists  of  Ceylon,  and  received  from  them  a very  compli- 
mentary address,  eulogizing  him  as  a true  interpreter  of  the  San- 
skrit philosophy.  His  work,  The  Light  of  Asia,”  they  endorsed 
with  much  affection.  Conversing  with  them  of  the  Mahatmas,  he 
was  told  that  the  priests  knew  nothing  of  the  existence  of  such 
people.  They  could  not  be  found,  though  they  were  so  famous  in 
Europe  and  America.  At  the  same  time  these  Buddhists  affirmed 
that  there  were  many  teachings  in  the  Sanskrit  which,  if  followed 
out,  would  develop  men  into  the  state  of  Mahatmas. 

The  Buddhists  themselves  think  Arnold’s  faithful  and  magnifi- 
cent portrayal  of  the  career  of  Buddha  has  done  more  than  any- 
thing else  to  recall  the  attention  of  the  Hindu  people  to  a percep- 
tion of  the  beauties  enshrined  in  the  Buddhistic  religion,  and  it 
affords  a powerful  incentive  to  them  to  live  up  to  these  teachings. 

We  hear  a great  deal  of  Indian  degradation,  and  particularly 
much  of  woman’s  degraded  condition  there.  Now  it  cannot  be 
disputed  that  many  women  in  India  are  in  a state  of  gross  degra- 
dation, but  this  condition  exists  in  spite  of  the  teachings  of  the 
Sanskrit  philosophy  (which  leads  logically  to  the  purest  elevation 
of  mankind),  not  in  consequence  of  their  religion.  All  the  vices  of 
Christendom  are  rebuked  in  Scripture,  and  yet  tolerated  in  Chris- 
tian communities.  No  charge  can  be  brought  against  the  Buddhist 
religion  for  the  vices  of  Asia  that  cannot  be  brought  against  every 
other  religion  on  earth. 

As  the  religion  of  India  is  set  forth  in  its  sacred  books,  it  is  a 
religion  of  the  greatest  purity  and  noblest  wisdom.  No  one  who 
compares  the  ten  great  religions  of  the  world,  the  one  with  the 
others,  will  fail  to  find  Buddhism  the  most  humanitarian,  and 
Brahmanism  the  most  nfetaphysical  of  all  the  systems.  Buddha 
taught  that  nothing  and  no  one  can  come  between  us  and  God. 

We  are,  according  to  his  philosophy,  our  own  high  priests,  medi- 
ators, and  intercessors,  absolutely  free  to  discover  truth  for  our- 
selves by  following  in  the  path  marked  out  by  our  own  intuition 


384 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


which  gives  ''  Thus  saith  the  indwelling  Spirit  ’’  as  final  authority. 
Too  many  people  unfortunately  are  not  contented  without  some 
external  lord  or  master  to  obey ; they  require  some  one  to  do  their 
thinking  for  them  instead  of  appealing  directly  to  the  Lord  within 
their  own  hearts,  so  as  to  receive  Truth  from  the  source  of  all 
Truth.  It  is  only  to  awaken  spiritual  thought  and  intellectual 
enquiry  that  we  study  Theosophy,  not  to  induce  allegiance  to  some 
hierarchy  of  India,  for  to  the  Christian  world  ‘‘follow  Jesus’’  is  as 
necessary  as  “follow  Buddha”  can  be  to  Orientals. 

The  following  essay  was  compiled  in  defense  of  the 
views  put  forward  by  Madame  Blavatsky : — 

While  an  immense  amount  of  floating  opinion  is  at  the  present 
time  circulating  on  the  subject  of  Theosophy,  there  are  compara- 
tively but  very  few  persons  who  have  set  themselves  the  task  of  so 
simplifying  the  tenets  of  Theosophy  as  to  make  the  main  doctrines 
clearly  intelligent  to  the  Western  mind.  The  word  Theosophy, 
which  signifies  neither  more  nor  less  than  divine  wisdom,  is  by  no 
means  exclusively  confined  to  ancient  Hinduism ; it  is  a term  prop- 
erly applicable  to  all  that  can  legitimately  be  termed  knowledge  of 
the  spiritual  universe.  Theosophy  in  its  modern  form  is  constantly 
associated  with  the  name  of  H.  P.  Blavatsky,  because  that  most 
industrious  Russian  lady  has  done  more  than  any  other  one  indi- 
vidual to  ransack  the  treasure-houses  of  Eastern  scripture,  and  to 
bring  forth  the  truth  therein  contained  for  the  edification  of  Euro- 
peans and  Americans. 

Most  students  of  Asiatic  lore  have  been  either  Christian  apolo- 
gists or  confirmed  skeptics.  Their  previous  training  and  fixed 
habit  of  thought  have  therefore  largely  disqualified  them  for  an 
unprejudiced  performance  of  their  task.  Madame  Blavatsky,  on 
the  other  hand,  has  searched  the  records,  not  with  a view  to  prove 
certain  foregone  propositions,  or  to  discover  fraud  and  folly  in  the 
documents  under  review,  but  to  honestly  express  the  information 
therein  contained.  Her  latest  work,  “ The  Secret  Doctrine,”  amply 
proves  the  honesty  of  her  endeavor  and  the  ability  she  brings  to 
the  work.  But  some  of  our  Christian  friends  will  inquire,  Why  go 


LECTURE  XYII. 


385 


to  the  Yedas  for  the  truths  we  can  find  so  perfectly  revealed  in  the 
Xew  Testament?  Why  speak  of  Gautama  when  we  have  before 
us  the  example  of  Jesus?  The  answer  to  such  inquiry  is  twofold. 
1st,  The  New  Testament  deals  almost  exclusively  with  ethics.  Its 
moral  code  is  indeed  unsurpassed,  but  on  questions  of  science  it  is 
silent.  Now  the  Hindu  records  are  not  simply  moral  text  books, 
they  are  scientific  treatises,  as  any  one  who  intelligently  peruses 
them  will  soon  discover.  2d,  There  is  a widespread  feeling  in 
Christendom  that  beyond  the  pale  of  Christianity  all  is  heathen 
darkness.  Such  a belief  renders  well  nigh  impossible  any  effectual 
carrying  out  of  the  fundamental  basis  of  Theosophy  — the  universal 
brotherhood  of  man. 

Theosophy  does  not  require  of  any  one  who  embraces  it  a sur- 
render of  the  Christian  religion,  so  far  as  its  basis  in  the  New 
Testament  is  concerned ; at  the  same  time  it  cannot  allow  that  any 
one  book,  or  any  one  people,  or  any  one  system,  can  embody  all 
the  divine  wisdom  known  upon  earth.  The  Bible,  from  Genesis 
to  Revelation,  teaches  the  cardinal  doctrines  of  Theosophy  without 
amplifying  them  very  clearly  or  extendedly.  These  doctrines  cer- 
tainly include  what  are  commonly  called  Karma”  and  Reincar- 
nation,teachings  which  simply  need  clear  and  cogent  reasoning 
to  make  them  appear  thoroughly  rational  and  scientific,  and,  above 
all,  consistent  with  man’s  highest  conception  of  divine,  impartial 
justice. 

The  Oriental  wisdom  religion  does  not  acknowledge  any  fall  of 
man  in  the  orthodox  Christian  sense.  It  teaches  the  involution  of 
spirit  and  consequent  evolution  of  matter,  and  in  the  exposition  of 
this  theory  it  accounts  for  all  the  anomalies  visible  in  the  external 
world  by  attributing  them  to  the  experimental  efforts  of  intelligent 
spiritual  units  to  make  themselves  manifest.  In  consonance  with 
the  teachings  of  the  Kabbala  and  other  occult  works  of  olden  time. 
Theosophy  teaches  that  the  external  universe  is  an  expression  of 
finite  intelligences,  necessarily  limited  in  power  and  wisdom,  but 
continually  subject  to  the  law  of  progress.  These  intelligences 
begin  at  the  foot  of  the  ladder  of  expression  and  work  their  way 
diligently  but  gradually  to  the  top  ; thus  the  theory  of  transmigra- 
tion is  inverted  in  a manner  very  favorably  regarded  by  Rev,  J.  F. 


386 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


Clarke  in  his  Ten  Great  Religions,”  and  many  other  liberal  and 
learned  authors. 

Reincarnation  is  usually  ridiculously  misunderstood.  People 
who  utterly  fail  to  comprehend  it  talk  an  unlimited  amount  of 
nonsense  concerning  another  spirit  usurping  the  body  of  a new- 
born child,  and  much  similar  folly,  while  Theosophy  explains  how 
a soul  awaiting  embodiment  introduces  itself  into  earthly  expres- 
sion at  the  moment  of  conception  by  itself  breathing  the  breath 
of  life  into  the  primal  germ.  In  other  words,  conception  is  the 
result  of  spirit  seeking  expression  through  an  appropriate  material 
medium. 

Karma  only  means  sequence,  or  the  unvarying  operation  of  the 
law  of  cause  and  effect.  Our  present  Karma  is  the  effect  of  all  our 
past  career,  remembered  or  seemingly  forgotten.  Whatever  trials 
or  difficulties  we  now  confront  come  to  us  to  try  us  because  of  our 
moral,  mental,  and  physical  condition  being  what  it  is;  and  it 
necessarily  is  what  it  is  at  any  given  moment  as  a result  of  our 
past  thinking,  speaking,  and  acting. 

The  doctrine  of  Karma  is  not  fatalism,  for  it  does  not  teach  us 
that  all  our  lives  are  mapped  out  for  us  by  the  sovereign  decree  of 
inexorable  fate ; it  simply  declares  the  universal  law  which  ordains 
that  certain  effects  must  ever  proceed  from  certain  causes ; thus, 
while  we  cannot  evade  the  operation  of  Karma,  we  can  as  we  in- 
crease in  knowledge  of  the  law  so  frame  our  conduct,  so  govern 
our  thoughts  and  affections,  as  well  as  our  speech  and  behavior,  as 
to  sow  nothing  but  good  seed,  and  consequently  reap  nothing  but 
an  agreeable  harvest. 

Nirvana,  or  the  state  of  supreme  blessedness,  is  a condition  in 
which  we  know  no  care  and  suffer  no  pain.  When  we  have  reached 
that  celestial  altitude,  we  are  proof  against  all  that  could  possibly 
afflict  or  disturb  us ; we  are  then  above  the  recognition  of  sin,  sick- 
ness, and  death,  and  in  a state  so  exalted  that  for  us  Karma  no 
longer  operates. 

Theosophy  does  not  allow  that  the  penalty  due  to  transgression 
can  ever  be  evaded.  To  forgive  sin  is  to  deliver  the  mind  from 
the  bondage  of  evil  desire.  This  can  be  accomplished  by  purely 
educational  processes. 


LECTURE  XVII. 


387 


Spiritual  Healing  is  acknowledged  by  Theosophy  only  so  far  as 
it  can  be  scientifically  demonstrated  as  a means  of  awakening  the 
higher  consciousness,  or  appealing  to  the  nobler  principle  in  man, 
while  phenomenal  Spiritualism  is  regarded  as  a legitimate  subject 
for  honest  painstaking  investigation,  with  a view  to  ascertain  the 
true  source  whence  the  phenomena  proceed.  The  true  Theosophist 
lays  the  utmost  stress  on  the  culture  of  the  higher  self,  not  on  the 
suppression  of  the  lower  instincts  so  much  as  on  the  cultivation  of 
the  higher;  and  on  the  basis  of  this  conviction  it  is  reasonably 
claimed  the  elevation  of  humanity  can  be  successfully  conducted. 

Theosophy  is  religion,  but  it  is  not  any  limited  system  or  view 
of  religion ; it  is  science,  but  it  does  not  confine  itself  to  any  par- 
ticular department  of  research.  It  is,  in  a word,  compendious 
anthropology ; it  teaches  man  to  look  within,  to  study  his  own  per- 
manent seKhood,  to  outgrow  dependence  on  external  sources  of 
information  and  authority,  and  find  within  himself  the  true,  per- 
petual light.  Armed  with  the  testimony  of  the  ages,  with  malice 
toward  none  and  good  will  toward  all,  Theosophy  claims  as  its 
mission  the  unification  of  all  human  interests,  and  the  establish- 
ment of  a perfectly  natural  and  yet  highly  spiritual  church  of 
humanity  unconfined  by  party,  race,  color,  or  belief. 

N.B.  — Indebtedness  is  acknowledged  for  portions  of 
this  chapter  to  Short  Lessons  in  Theosophy,”  compiled 
by  Miss  S.  C.  Clark,  a valuable  little  work  handsomely 
bound  in  leatherette,  price  25  cents,  procurable  at  The 
Banner  of  Light  bookstore,  and  wherever  theosophical 
literature  is  sold.  The  lessons  are  in  the  form  of  ques- 
tions and  answers,  all  of  which  are  exceedingly  useful 
for  reference,  and  very  acceptable  to  busy  people. 


LECTURE  XVIII. 


THEOSOPHY,  SPIRITUALISM,  AND  CHRISTIANITY. 

The  question  as  to  what  Spiritualism  really  is,  is  one 
that  never  seems  settled,  and  it  is  very  doubtful  whether 
it  will  ever  be  settled  in  the  minds  of  the  present  gen- 
eration. The  word  Spiritualism  is  so  much  older  than 
the  Rochester  Knockings,  so  far  antedates  1848,  that  we 
find  it  in  the  very  oldest  dictionaries,  and  whenever  we 
come  across  words  in  ancient  lexicons  we  know  they 
must  have  had  distinctive  meanings  long  before  what  is 
termed  Modern  Spiritualism  had  its  birth.  Bishop 
Berkeley  was  called  a Spiritualist  as  well  as  a meta- 
physician, and  we  know  there  have  been  Spiritualists 
and  Materialists  from  time  immemorial;  the  world  of 
thought  on  religious  questions  is  necessarily  divided 
into  the  spiritualistic  and  materialistic  schools.  We 
must  either  be  Spiritualists  or  Materialists,  if  we  are 
anything  definite ; though  many  occupy  a kind  of 
middle  position  between  Spiritualism  and  Materialism, 
between  Theism  and  Atheism,  and  call  themselves  Free- 
thinkers or  Agnostics.  Some  prefer  to  call  themselves 
Secularists.  By  that  term  they  mean  that  they  devote 
all  their  time,  thought,  and  energy  to  this  one  world 
while  dwelling  upon  it,  and  that  if  there  be  a future 
state  they  will  leave  it  to  take  care  of  itself.  They 


LECTURE  XVIII. 


389 


declare  one  world  at  a time  is  sufficient,  and  if  there  is 
a future  state,  say  they,  we  shall  all  know  it  sooner  or 
later ; it  is  time  enough  for  us  to  consider  the  future 
world  when  we  are  called  upon  to  live  in  it. 

Now  such  reasoning  would  be  perfectly  sound  if  our 
knowledge  of  the  future  state  in  no  way  affected  our 
condition  in  the  life  that  now  is ; if,  when  we  laid  aside 
the  garments  of  mortality  and  passed  through  the  change 
called  death,  we  were  thoroughly  remodeled ; if,  by  some 
subtle  process,  indescribable  and  unfathomable,  we  were 
transformed  into  another  order  of  beings  with  entirely 
different  feelings,  desires,  and  occupations.  If  the  life 
beyond  were  altogether  remote  from  our  present  life  and 
in  no  way  affected  by  it,  such  arguments  might  be  per- 
fectly sound,  such  reasoning  faultless.  But  if  we  under- 
stand— as  all  spiritual  revelation,  and  indeed  common 
sense  and  sober  reflection  must  alike  teach  us  — that 
what  we  sow  at  one  time  we  reap  at  another,  that  what 
we  do  in  our  present  stage  of  existence  affects  our  con- 
dition in  the  beyond,  we  know  that  we  live  once  and 
always,  we  are  in  the  spiritual  world  now  and  forever ; 
and  as  the  life  we  shall  live  is  the  life  we  are  living,  as 
the  life  we  are  now  living  is  the  life  we  have  lived,  we 
learn  that  there  is  far  more  truth  than  imagination, 
far  more  prose  and  stern  reality  than  imaginative  poetry 
in  the  old  word  Karma^  which  only  signifles  sequence, 
or  that  whatsoever  a man  soweth  that  shall  he  also  reap. 

The  word  Karma  is  the  Sanskrit  equivalent  of  the 
English  word  consequence;  it  means  that  to-day  we 
prepare  for  tomorrow,  as  yesterday  we  prepared  for 
to-day,  as  in  youth  we  prepare  for  middle  life,  and  in 


390 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


middle  life,  for  old  age.  As  our  condition  on  the  mor- 
row is  the  result  of  our  action  on  the  day  previous,  so 
on  the  day  after  death,  on  the  morrow  of  our  mortal 
existence,  we  must  reap  what  we  have  sown  and  as  we 
have  sown.  Thus  the  passage  in  Ecclesiastes  is  literally 
true  (though  often  misconstrued)  : “ As  the  tree  falls 
so  shall  it  lie.”  Its  condition  is  not  a fixed  or  unalter- 
able one,  but  at  that  point  where  the  tree  falls  and  in  the 
condition  in  which  it  fell  must  all  those  transformations 
commence  which  eventually  will  lead  to  the  perfect 
glorification  of  the  human  spirit  compared  to  a tree  by 
an  ancient  writer. 

Now  if  Spiritualism  means  anything,  it  means  we  are 
alive  now  in  the  spiritual  universe  ; it  means  we  are 
now  spiritual  entities,  responsible  and  accountable  be- 
ings, accountable  according  to  our  light,  responsible  ac- 
cording to  our  knowledge,  gradually  making  our  way 
by  sure,  though  slow  degrees,  toward  some  future  goal 
which  is  dimly  outlined  before  us,  but  which  none  of  us 
can  plainly  see  except  it  may  be  in  occasional  moments 
of  spiritual  ecstasy  and  wonderful  exaltation.  Once  in 
a while  we  find  ourselves  transported  to  Paul’s  third 
heaven,  in  some  extremely  lucid  condition  in  which  we 
are  lifted  above  all  sublunary  things  and  brought  face 
to  face  with  the  sublime  realities  of  the  immortal  world; 
but  ordinarily  the  future  is  dark  and  dim  before  us, 
illumined,  indeed,  with  the  bright  rays  of  hope  and 
expectation ; but  future  glories  are  like  mountain  tops 
capped  with  perpetual  clouds  that  hide  the  summits 
from  our  view.  Once  in  a while  the  day  breaks  dis- 
pelling the  mists  and  putting  the  shades  to  flight,  show- 


LECTUKE  XVIII. 


391 


ing  us  those  glorious  peaks  crowned  with  perpetual 
snow  and  illumined  with  eternal  glory.  All  the  world 
looks  forward  to  a higher,  brighter,  and  nobler  life. 
Brahmins  and  Buddhists,  equally  with  Mohammedans, 
Jews  and  Christians,  expect  a brighter  home  hereafter. 
Not  only  the  civilized,  but  the  barbarian,  not  only  the 
Caucasian,  but  the  untutored  Indian  on  the  prairie,  looks 
forward  to  a life  beyond  more  beautiful  than  this ; and 
though  western  minds  fail  to  understand  the  profundity 
of  eastern  thought,  and  failing  to  interpret  the  hiero- 
glyphics of  ancient  Hindustan  declare  that  multitudes 
look  forward  to  annihilation,  having  blindly  confounded 
extinction  with  Nirvana;  those  who  have  penetrated 
into  the  inner  teachings  of  the  seers  and  sages  of  the 
Orient  know  full  well  that  the  Buddhistic  term  Nirvana 
is  identical  with  the  Christian  term  Kingdom  of  Heaven. 
Christian  and  Buddhist  alike  desire  not  extinction,  but  to 
overcome  carnality,  pride,  selfishness,  and  all  such  sense 
of  separateness  from  their  brethren  as  causes  one  to  feel 
averse  to  the  interests  of  his  fellows,  and  to  erect  bar- 
riers and  partition  walls  between  clans  and  tribes,  par- 
ties, sects,  and  nations.  The  idea  of  the  ultimate  heaven 
of  rest  is  so  sublime,  so  exquisite  in  all  religions,  that 
a majority  of  people  have  contented  themselves  with 
skimming  the  surface  of  sacred  literature,  merely  dwell- 
ing upon  those  parabolical  explanations  of  spiritual 
truth  which  have  pleased  their  childish  fancy,  as  pic- 
tures and  toys  delight  children. 

There  must  always  be  in  what  is  popularly  termed 
Spiritualism  a great  deal  that  is  decidedly  attractive  to 
lovers  of  sensation : therefore  Spiritualism  as  a distinc- 


392  STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 

tive  philosophy  has  always  drawn  to  itself  a good  many 
people  who  spend  all  their  time  in  hearing  or  telling 
some  new  thing ; but  while  the  craze  ” is  certainly 
abating,  while  the  search  for  the  wonderful  is  subsiding, 
while  the  sensational  has  no  longer  such  a hold  upon 
the  people  as  it  had  some  years  ago,  though  Spiritualism 
is  now  universally  regarded  as  one  of  the  philosophies 
of  the  age,  and  Spiritualists  are  looked  upon  as  one  of 
the  various  branches  into  which  the  religious  world  is 
divided  up,  though  such  eminent  men  as  Alfred  Russel 
Wallace,  and  many  other  eminent  scientists  have  es- 
poused the  cause  of  Spiritualism,  and  put  it  before  the 
world  in  a dignified  shape.  Spiritualism  has  necessarily 
within  its  fold  much  of  that  element  which  people  com- 
monly call  mystical  — so  much  that  all  who  desire  to 
dream  or  see  visions,  who  seek  to  draw  aside  the  cur- 
tain, even  though  but  slightly,  and  peer  into  the  mys- 
teries of  the  unseen,  are  more  attracted  by  the  words 
Spiritualism  and  spirit-communion  than  by  the  word 
religion,  or  any  phrases  ordinarily  used  to  signify 
ethical  culture.  Spiritualism  by  its  very  name  draws 
to  itself  a large  number  of  people  who  desire  that  the 
romantic  or  imaginative  element  in  their  nature  shall 
be  especially  ministered  to,  consequently  we  find  a 
great  many  people  among  Spiritualists  who  do  not  care 
much  for  sound  and  sober  philosophy,  but  care  im- 
mensely for  startling  phenomena.  Many  calling  them- 
selves Spiritualists  do  not  care  to  read  a learned  book 
or  listen  to  a profound  discourse,  but  if  they  can  see  a 
table  move,  or  tambourine  carried  round  a room  by  un- 
seen hands,  or,  best  of  all,  witness  a materialization^  they 


LECTURE  XVIII. 


398 


are  delighted.  We  do  not  blame  or  censure  such  people ; 
for  they  are  a class  who  have  either  been  emotionally 
starved  or  possess  an  over-supply  of  the  imaginative 
element;  they  have  either  had  their  imagination  un- 
duly repressed,  until  it  breaks  its  bonds  and  bursts  forth 
like  the  eruption  of  a volcano  long  delayed,  or  they 
have  never  paid  any  attention  to  the  sober  side  of  cul- 
ture, having  fed  upon  the  sweetmeats  of  sensationalism 
until  their  palates  are  dissatisfied  with  plainer  and  more 
wholesome  food.  These  people  who  are  always  seeking 
for  sensation  do  not  investigate,  as  Professor  Wallace 
did,  for  the  sake  of  publishing  great  discoveries  to  the 
world ; they  do  not  enter  the  seance  room  feeling  that 
there  are  truths  to  be  understood,  problems  to  be  solved, 
and  facts  to  be  discovered,  by  means  of  which  the  world 
can  be  made  better  and  happier ; unfortunately  there 
are  many  in  the  present  condition  of  human  develop- 
ment continually  crying  out  for  more  and  more  of  the 
wonderful,  simply  because  it  is  wonderful. 

Then  we  find  extremists  who  endeavor  to  correct  this 
evil  by  taking  away  the  wonderful  altogether,  who  say 
all  marvels  are  out  of  place ; that  they  do  more  harm 
than  good.  Such  statements  are  necessarily  one-sided 
and  short-sighted;  no  philosopher,  no  true  scientist, 
could  ever  fall  into  such  an  error,  for  we  might  as  well 
say  because  some  people  talk  too  much  it  would  be 
better  not  to  use  our  vocal  organs  at  all.  Such  an 
extreme  position  is  as  absurd  as  the  equally  extreme 
position  of  those  who  crave  more  than  a normal  and 
natural  supply  of  one  particular  form  of  food.  Spiritual 
manifestations  in  and  of  themselves  are  good  and  valu- 


394 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


able ; they  are,  indeed,  absolutely  necessary ; far  be  it 
from  us  to  say  anything  that  could  be  properly  con- 
strued as  derogatory  to  phenomena,  but  we  do  maintain 
that  if  Spiritualism  is  to  be  a power  for  good,  for  genuine 
usefulness  in  the  world,  while  phenomena  may  consti- 
tute a basis  for  philosophy,  philosophy  must  necessarily 
be  brought  home  to  the  hearts  and  minds  of  the  people, 
and  be  put  in  practice,  or  all  the  conclusions  derived 
from  sensuous  observation  of  facts  will  be  of  little  more 
value  than  the  tinkling  brass  and  sounding  cymbals  of 
those  who  have  gifts  and  knowledge  but  lack  charity, 
the  faith  which  is  proved  by  works  of  love.  Some  Spirit- 
ualists are  prone  to  worship,  others  to  deride  phenom- 
ena ; those  who  take  an  extreme  view  on  one  side  or 
the  other  probably  feel  themselves  entirely  dependent 
upon  phenomena  or  else  altogether  independent  of  it. 
It  is  positively  amusing  to  read  some  spiritualistic 
literature,  and  listen  to  the  utterance  of  certain  Spirit- 
ualists. We  hear  one  party  say,  There  is  no  foundation 
for  our  philosophy  except  physical  phenomena  ” ; then 
we  hear  other  persons  exclaim,  We  want  the  philoso- 
phy and  do  not  care  about  phenomena  at  all ; indeed, 
we  believe  they  do  more  harm  than  good.”  Now  how 
can  these  diametrically  opposite  statements  be  recon- 
ciled? Are  they  reconcilable?  We  maintain  they  are. 
Certain  people  can  only  drink  in  knowledge  as  it  is 
presented  to  their  senses ; every  grain  of  truth  has  to  be 
filtered  through  the  sensuous  perceptions  before  it  can 
reach  their  intellect;  before  they  can  realize  anything 
of  spiritual  truth,  they  must  taste,  touch,  smell,  see,  or 
hear.  It  appears  that  some  of  the  apostles  of  Jesus 


LECTURE  XVni. 


395 


(Thomas  especially)  were  of  this  class.  Thomas  was 
a natural  skeptic,  by  no  means  a sensual  man,  but, 
nevertheless,  one  who  demanded  sensuous  proof  of 
immortality.  He  said,  therefore,  Unless  I touch  and 
see  I will  not  believe.”  We  often  hear  it  said  that 
belief  rests  upon  evidence.  How  many  people  exclaim : 
‘‘  I would  believe  if  I could ; how  I wish  I could ; 
the  philosophy  of  Spiritualism  is  so  beautiful ; if  it  is 
not  true,  it  should  be  true ; it  is  so  consoling ; oh,  if  I 
only  could  believe  it,  but  I cannot.”  We  hear  such 
words  uttered  again  and  again  by  thoroughly  honest 
seekers  after  truth ; but  some  are  so  constituted  they 
cannot  receive  light  from  preaching  or  reading,  but  let 
them  witness  almost  any  phenomena  of  a physical  char- 
acter, the  genuineness  of  which  they  cannot  question, 
and  they  will  go  home  rejoicing,  declaring  they  have 
found  a key  which  has  unlocked  the  very  door  of  heaven ; 
they  have  discovered  the  rule  by  means  of  which  they 
can  solve  the  most  important  problem  that  has  ever 
presented  itself  for  solution  to  human  understanding. 
Now  what  is  more  likely  than  that  such  people  should 
eulogize  phenomena  through  the  length  and  breadth 
of  the  land,  rush  into  print,  and  wherever  they  can, 
enter  into  conversation,  to  proclaim  phenomena  every- 
thing ; without  phenomenal  proof  they  would  have 
remained  in  darkness ; through  it  the  tears  are  wiped 
from  their  eyes,  their  doubts  are  removed,  their  fears 
dispelled,  they  are  joyously  happy;  they  straightway 
conclude  all  their  brethren  are  like  themselves ; they 
think  everybody  requires  exactly  the  kind  of  evidence 
they  required  and  while  they  honestly  believe  phenom- 


396 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


ena  to  be  the  universal  panacea  for  every  doubt  and 
ailment,  certain  others  as  honest  as  themselves  fly  to 
similar  phenomena  and  receive  no  satisfaction. 

Another  class  of  people  are  so  constituted  that  they 
must  receive  everything  intellectually.  No  matter  how 
much  phenomena  they  witness,  they  cannot  accept  spir- 
itual truth  on  the  testimony  of  their  senses  alone ; 
they  must  have  everything  made  plain  to  the  intellect. 
These  will  incessantly  read,  question,  listen,  and  think, 
and  it  is  only  through  mental  deliberations,  and  delving 
deeply  into  the  mines  of  literature  that  they  can  pos- 
sibly receive  satisfaction ; then  when  they  are  satisfied 
through  study,  through  intellectual  research,  they  pro- 
claim that  if  you  will  only  circulate  literature,  deliver 
lectures,  enter  into  debates,  converse  fluently  with  your 
friends,  place  before  them  cogent  reasons  and  sound 
arguments,  you  will  have  the  world  at  the  feet  of  spirit- 
ual philosophy. 

There  are  others  again  who  receive  truth  intuitively ; 
they  are  not  reasoners  to  any  great  extent,  neither  are 
they  great  readers ; they  are  neither  very  studious  nor 
the  best  of  listeners,  but  keenly  alive  to  everything  that 
touches  the  moral  sense.  They  are  always  striving  to 
enter  into  silent  communion  with  the  world  of  souls ; 
they  seek  in  solitary  places  a spiritual  influx  which 
reaches  them  independently  of  all  outward  ministra- 
tions, such  as  the  sound  of  the  human  voice,  the  printed 
page,  or  any  external  sign  or  symbol ; they  realize  the 
nearness  of  the  spiritual  world  only  as  it  secretly  touches 
their  inmost  nature.  These  tell  you  that  if  you  would 
receive  the  highest  spiritual  revelation  you  must  retire 


LECTURE  XYIII. 


397 


from  the  haunts  of  men,  throw  yourself  into  seclusion, 
and  live  a solitary,  almost  monastic  life.  The  monastery 
and  convent  have  charms  for  them,  and  if  Roman  Cathol- 
icism does  not  attract  them.  Buddhism  will.  They  read- 
ily imagine  in  some  sacred  retreat  in  the  mountains  of 
India,  saintly  Mahatmas  who  have  solved  the  most  diffi- 
cult problems  of  the  universe  through  living  lives  of 
abstemiousness  and  seclusion,  and  consider  that  all  spir- 
itual gifts  are  to  be  cultivated  only  by  means  of  prayer 
and  fasting,  by  reining  in  the  lower  nature,  and  thus 
allowing  the  higher  self  to  have  full  sway ; only  thus, 
say  they,  can  we  really  arrive  at  knowledge  of  truth. 

These  latter  are  often  the  most  interior  and  spiritual 
of  all,  but  unfortunately  in  all  pronounced  types  of 
mind  there  is  a development  of  one  side  only  of  human 
nature  rather  than  symmetrical  unfoldment  of  the  entire 
being.  Wherever  certain  exclusive  forms  of  good  are 
over-highly  prized,  and  the  harmonious  culture  of  the 
entire  individual  not  regarded  as  essential,  persons  are 
sure  to  be  more  or  less  erratic,  consequently  the  gospel 
they  preach  is  good  news  for  some  people,  but  not  for 
all.  We  are  told  that  when  Jesus  was  born,  the  angels 
shouted,  ‘‘  Peace  on  earth ; good  will  to  men  ” ; and 
declared  that  glad  tidings  were  to  be  heralded  abroad 
which  should  be  for  all  people ; then  when  the  Holy 
Spirit  came,  on  that  wondrous  feast  of  Pentecost  fol- 
lowing the  final  departure  of  Jesus  from  the  external 
form,  we  are  told  that  illiterate  fishermen  and  other 
disciples  gathered  there,  who  knew  only  one  language, 
were  inspired  to  speak  of  the  wonderful  works  of  God 
in  so  many  different  tongues,  that  the  vast  concourse 


398 


STUDIES  IN'  THEOSOPHY. 


of  nationalities  gathered  in  Jerusalem’s  fair  temple, 
could  all  hear  the  truth  in  the  language  to  which  they 
were  born.  Paul,  drinking  in  the  spirit  of  the  earliest 
followers  of  Jesus,  speaks  of  a diversity  of  gifts,  but 
one  spirit ; many  forms  of  administration,  yet  one  Lord 
over  all,  one  God,  one  Spirit  in  all  and  through  all. 

If  our  platform  is  to  be  truly  universal,  spiritual,  and 
humanitarian,  we  must  never  restrict  ourselves  to  the 
advocacy  of  that  which  will  meet  the  requirements  of 
just  one  class  of  people;  we  must  never  desire  that 
only  in  one  tongue  the  truth  shall  be  spoken ; we  must 
never  seek  to  narrow  divine  revelation  to  one  particular 
form  of  presentation ; but,  having  in  view  the  general 
good  to  all,  whether  we  individually  require  phenomena 
or  not,  we  should  remember  there  are  many  who  do, 
consequently  we  should  do  all  in  our  power  to  promote 
it  in  its  genuineness  in  all  its  phases,  and  honor  all  who 
are  the  instruments  of  presenting  it  to  the  world.  No 
matter  whether  we  require  argument  or  not,  there  are 
some  who  can  only  be  convinced  by  an  appeal  to  the 
intellect,  therefore  we  should  do  all  in  our  power  to 
sustain  the  platform  and  the  press.  If  we  can  receive 
truth  without  retiring  into  solitude,  we  must  bear  in 
mind  that  there  are  many  who  cannot  hear  the  voices 
of  heaven  when  the  harsh  noises  of  earth  are  ringing  in 
their  ears,  so  we  should  gladly  prepare  for  such  a quiet 
retreat.  Some  of  us  may  resemble  tall  forest  trees,  or 
conspicuous,  flowers,  appearing  in  the  world  in  its  most 
noted  places,  while  others  may  be  like  lilies  of  the  valley 
or  modest  violets  hiding  in  the  shade,  making  sweet  the 
copse  and  sheltered  dell,  doing  their  work  in  silence 


LECTURE  XVIII. 


399 


and  in  secrecy,  just  as  effectually  as  others  of  us  may 
do  ours  in  the  public  marts  of  the  world. 

True  Spiritualism,  like  Theosophy,  is  mclusive,  never 
6a;clusive.  The  Spiritualism  that  is  for  Spiritualists 
only  is  a Spiritualism  we  want  nothing  to  do  with.  We 
shall  never  take  any  part  in  its  advocacy,  as  we  cannot 
conscientiously  sustain  it.  A Spiritualism  that  is  for 
all  humanity  is  the  only  Spiritualism  we  recognize 
as  genuine.  That  Spiritualism  which  is  not  for  the 
world,  not  alike  for  Jew,  Gentile,  Greek,  Roman,  and 
barbarian;  which  does  not  speak  to  the  Eastern  and 
Western  Hemispheres  alike;  which  cannot  recognize 
the  virtues  of  Plato,  Socrates,  of  the  Buddhas,  Zoroaster, 
and  Jesus,  as  well  as  those  of  modern  workers,  is  a 
narrow,  exclusive,  limited  thing,  fostering  contention 
and  strife,  and  can  never  be  anything  more  than  a 
sickly  exotic,  a poor  little  pampered  plant,  reared  in 
a hothouse,  its  leaves  destined  soon  to  wither  and  fall, 
while  its  fruit  will  never  come  to  perfection.  Efforts, 
tending  to  wrap  Spiritualism  up  within  the  folds  of 
sectarian  organization,  may  be  the  means  of  adding  one 
more  to  the  countless  sects  into  which  the  world  is  now 
divided,  but  will  never  add  anything  to  the  great  living, 
progressive,  liberal  thought  of  the  age.  Spiritualism  is 
a universal  movement,  or  it  is  nothing ; it  does  not  be- 
long to  any  clan,  party  or  sect ; there  is  for  the  true 
Spiritualist  no  Jerusalem,  no  Mecca  upon  earth,  and  no 
special  teacher  or  leader  at  its  head.  True  Spiritualism 
is  like  leaven  hid  in  all  measures  of  meal  of  which 
men  partake  — it  must  penetrate  the  entire  mass  until 
the  whole  is  leavened. 


400 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


Now,  let  US  inquire,  What  is  the  relation  of  Spiritual- 
ism, pure  and  simple,  to  Christianity?  We  take  par- 
ticular notice  of  Christianity  because  it  is  the  prevailing 
religion  of  America  and  Europe.  If  we  were  working- 
in  Hindustan,  we  should  particularly  consider  the  rela- 
tion of  Spiritualism  to  the  Buddhistic  and  Brahmanical 
faiths ; if  we  were  speaking  in  the  Ottoman  Empire,  we 
should  particularly  consider  its  relation  to  the  Mo- 
hammedan religion ; but  as  we  are  working  in  countries 
in  which  the  majority  of  the  people  profess  the  Christian 
name,  and  where  the  so-called  Christian  religion  is  the 
religion  of  the  masses,  it  specially  behooves  us  to  con- 
sider the  relation  of  Spiritualism  to  Christianity. 

Should  Spiritualists  antagonize  Christianity?  That  de- 
pends entirely  upon  what  is  meant  by  Christianity.  If 
you  mean  a hierarchical  system,  a theological  imperialism^ 
an  ecclesiasticism  which  has  in  the  past  given  birth  to 
the  Inquisition,  and  would  re-establish  it  to-day  if  it  had 
the  power,  hostility  to  such  unchristian  Christianity  is 
but  natural  and  right;  but  Unitarians  and  Universalists 
bear  the  Christian  name,  and  nearly  all  liberal  minds  in 
the  churches  delight  in  it.  Christian  Scientists  say  that 
Christ  is  only  another  name  for  truth ; and  surely  Paul 
when  writing  to  the  Corinthians  entertained  the  broadest 
possible  idea  of  the  Christ  when  he  said  that  all  honest 
spiritual  workers  were  members  of  one  body,  and  that 
the  great  body  of  humanity  enlightened  by  the  spirit  of 
truth,  constituted  the  Christ.  It  is  a mere  technical 
quibble  with  many  people  who  are  continually  antag- 
onizing Christianity ; they  are  evidently  determined  to 
fight  something  and  some  one,  and  therefore  often  set 


LECTUKE  XVIII. 


401 


up  a man  of  straw  which  they  call  Christianity,  and  then 
proceed  to  knock  it  down. 

Many  people  are  very  fond  of  heaping  ridicule  upon 
everything  which  bears  the  Christian  name.  With  all 
such  onslaught  and  attack  we  have  no  sympathy  what- 
ever. When  people  resort  to  sarcasm  and  abuse  it  is 
usually  because  they  are  devoid  of  understanding,  and 
for  lack  of  argument  throw  dirt  when  unable  to  logically 
defend  their  position.  Many  sciolists,  when  they  cannot 
argue  a question  out,  throw  dust  in  the  eyes  of  their 
hearers,  and  in  raising  dust  think  they  can  cover  their 
ignominious  retreat;  but  no  really  intelligent  person 
has  ever  taken  any  such  course.  We  are  living  in  an 
age  when  every  one  must  be  allowed  the  free  expression 
of  his  sincere  and  honest  convictions  without  being  sub- 
jected to  abuse  for  so  doing,  and  any  person  who  calls 
another  a fool  because  he  does  not  agree  with  him  must 
be  strangely  destitute  of  intelligence  himself,  or  else 
desirous  to  be  a god  before  whom  the  world  is  to  bow 
down  and  worship.  We  are,  happily,  outgrowing  the 
era  of  personal  and  localized  divinities ; we  no  longer 
recognize  the  authority  of  self-styled  apostles.  The  time 
now  is  when  the  priestly  office  is  being  abandoned,  and 
we  are  approaching  a happier  era  Avhen  every  honest 
man  will  be  both  priest  and  king.  As  in  the  future 
there  will  be  no  special  laboring  class  because  there  will 
be  no  idlers,  so  the  time  is  coming  Avhen  all  will  be 
kings  and  queens,  priests  and  priestesses,  prophets  and 
prophetesses,  seers  and  seeresses,  for  the  happy  day  ap- 
proaches when  the  prediction  of  olden  prophets  will  be 
fulfilled  and  the  spirit  of  truth  be  poured  out  upon  all 


402 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


mankind,  to  the  end  that  young  and  old,  male  and 
female,  shall  alike  prophesy,  and  be  enlightened. 

We  are  approaching  the  glorious  time  when  all  the 
limits  of  sectarianism  must  necessarily  be  removed,  and 
when,  as  a result,  the  old  stereotyped  forms  of  Chris- 
tianity must  go  the  way  of  all  transitory  things.  They 
were  well  enough  in  the  days  of  old  when  the  multitude 
could  neither  read  nor  write,  when  scribes  and  readers 
were  idolized,  because  the  scribes  and  priests  were  the 
only  educated  men  in  the  community ; well  enough  in 
those  old  times  when  most  men  were  little  better  than 
slaves  and  barbarians,  whose  leaders  were  obliged  to  hold 
them  in  check  with  the  tightest  possible  rein  to  prevent 
lawlessness  and  insurrection ; but  their  day  is  past. 

All  th^  good  there  is  in  Christendom,  all  the  noble 
examples  of  heroism  shown  by  Christian  martyrs,  would 
live  forever,  though  the  words,  Christ,  Christian,  and 
Christianity  should  eventually  be  dropped  out  of  the 
world’s  lexicons.  Many  have  no  longer  any  need  for 
distinctive  appellations,  but  if  any  have  outgrown  the 
Christian  name,  it  is  not  because  Christianity  was  a 
system  of  imposition,  but  only  that  something  better, 
higher,  and  newer  is  always  in  store  for  humanity. 

We  are  frequently  informed  that  many  who  were 
formerly  outspoken  Spiritualists  have  gone  back  into 
Christian  churches,  and  that  many  have  gone  into  them 
foj?  the  first  time  because  they  find  there  a more  lucra- 
tive field  of  labor.  You  will  find  in  almost  every  in- 
stance that  those  who  have  acted  thus  had  respectability 
and  organization  on  the  brain ; and,  as  the  churches  are 
perfectly  organized  and  very  respectable,  they  found 


LECTURE  XVIII. 


403 


that  organization  and  respectability  could  be  secured  in 
churches  better  than  in  any  independent  movement. 
We  do  not  blame  them ; if  they  belong  in  churches  let 
them  go  there ; finding  their  true  level  they  can  best  do 
their  work.  There  is  a great  deal  to  be  done  in  and  by 
churches ; a great  deal  of  good  can  be  done  in  them ; 
and  instead  of  harshly  criticising  those  who  enter  them, 
we  say  if  they  feel  better  satisfied  therein  the  church  is 
the  place  for  them ; then,  if  they  find  it  uncomfortable, 
they  can  get  out  again.  This  is  a question  that  must 
be  left  to  the  conscientious  decision  of  the  individual ; 
no  one  has  any  right  to  place  restrictions  upon  his 
brother’s  or  sister’s  convictions  and  opinions,  or  to  im- 
pute improper  motives  to  another. 

If  there  are  any,  and  common  report  says  there  are 
many,  who  go  into  the  churches  because  they  think 
they  can  do  better  in  a financial  sense,  then  we  are  sorry 
for  the  churches  they  have  entered ; for  persons  whose 
motives  are  only  selfish  are  a detriment  to  the  society 
they  enter,  while  no  one  can  come  into  the  atmosphere 
of  sincere,  disinterested  workers  for  humanity  without 
being  uplifted  in  some  degree ; your  nobler  feelings  will 
be  touched,  your  loftiest  emotions  stirred  through  com- 
munion with  their  thought. 

All  we  say  is,  be  true  to  your  inward  light,  go  where 
conscience  leads  you,  and  all  the  hosts  of  heaven  will 
bless  you  in  your  undertaking.  Bad  results  and  use- 
lessness must  always  proceed  from  hypocrisy  and  false 
swearing.  Let  us  then  attach  more  and  more  impor- 
tance to  the  cardinal  virtues ; let  us  look  more  to  the 
foundations,  the  essentials  of  morality ; let  us  strive  for 


404 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


spirituality  rather  than  for  professed  Spiritualism  which 
many  use  as  a convenient  term  to  cover  anything. 

No  honest  seeker  after  truth  shall  ever  hear  from  us 
a slighting  or  insulting  word  because  of  his  or  her 
church  associations.  What  right  have  we,  what  right 
has  any  one,  to  point  to  any  institution  and  declare  it 
superior  to  all  others,  unless  it  can  prove  its  superiority 
by  the  practical  good  it  does  in  the  world  ? Everything 
must  be  tried  by  the  fruit  it  bears.  If  any  desire  to 
build  up  Spiritualism  they  must  not  find  fault  the  one 
with  the  other,  or  indulge  in  petty  disputes  and  antago- 
nisms. Spiritualists  unfortunately  have  been  their  own 
worst  enemies;  they  have  mercilessly  attacked  each 
other  instead  of  attacking  evil.  If  they  would  attack 
vice  and  error,  if  they  would  preach  a glorious,  intelli- 
gible and  affirmative  philosophy,  and  surround  mediums 
with  the  best  conditions  for  eliciting  satisfactory  phe- 
nomena, Spiritualism  would  go  forward  conquering  and 
to  conquer,  which  it  can  never  do  if  misrepresented  by 
assumed  exponents  who  perpetually  indulge  in  sarcasm, 
abuse,  and  ruthless  iconoclasm. 

Spiritualism  is  a system  of  philosophy  with  accom- 
panying signs  and  wonders,  and  as  Jesus  said  concerning 
his  followers,  These  signs  shall  follow  those  who  be- 
lieve,” so  that  when  they  went  out  into  the  world  men 
might  know  they  were  really  his  disciples,  as  they  healed 
the  sick  and  cast  out  devils,  which  meant  that  they 
helped  people  to  overcome  their  vices ; so  to-day,  if 
Spiritualists  are  to  be  lights  of  the  world  and  salt  of 
the  earth,  they  can  only  become  so  by  reviving  in  our 
midst  those  wonderful  gifts  of  the  spirit  (teaching  and 


LECTURE  XYIII. 


405 


healing)  which  in  the  olden  days  brought  such  honor 
to  the  Christian  name,  and  shed  so  glorious  a luster 
over  all  the  earth  wherever  the  pioneers  of  Christianity 
traveled. 

Spiritualism,  if  true  to  itself,  must  be  brighter  and 
more  liberal  than  all  systems  beside.  The  very  word 
Spiritualism  embodies  the  idea  of  universality.  Our 
theosophical  brethren  in  India  are  doing  better  work 
than  any  other  missionaries  because  instead  of  attacking 
Oriental  religions  they  are  seeking  to  interpret  the  spirit 
of  the  Sanskrit  Scriptures  to  the  Hindu  youth,  reveal- 
ing to  them  the  buried  treasures  in  the  mines  of  their 
own  literature.  A Hindu  teacher,  Mohini  M.  Chatterji, 
whose  English  translation  of  the  Bhagavad  Gita  with 
notes  and  references  to  the  New  Testament  should  be 
studied  by  all  students  of  Theosophy,  when  in  Boston 
preached  in  some  of  the  leading  Unitarian  churches ; 
among  others  he  occupied  the  pulpit  usually  occupied 
by  the  far-famed  Edward  Everett  Hale,  where  he  de- 
clared he  saw  no  difference  between  esoteric  Buddhism 
and  esoteric  Christianity ; for  after  he  studied  the  New 
Testament  he  found  it  identical  in  its  spirit  with  the 
Hindu  Vedas.  He  said  he  did  not  desire  either  to 
Christianize  Buddhists  or  to  make  Buddhists  of  Chris- 
tians. Such  is  the  prevailing  sentiment  of  spiritually 
minded  scholars  everywhere. 

The  need  of  to-day  is  universal  Spiritualism  or  uni- 
versal Theosophy ; we  need  to  cull  flowers  from  every 
garden,  to  take  the  wise  maxims  and  noble  thoughts  of 
ancient  and  modern  poets,  seers,  and  sages,  and  so  bind 
them  together  as  to  forward  the  highest  purposes  of  life. 


406 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


It  is  altogether  too  late  for  one  party  to  denounce  all 
others ; it  is  altogether  out  of  date  to  throw  aside  the 
world’s  Bibles,  and  say  there  are  no  kernels  in  their 
shells  because  people  have  been  long  fed  on  husks  and 
have  not  yet  discovered  the  kernels. 

We  have  the  greatest  respect  for  every  honorable  man 
and  woman;  we  admire  honesty  wherever  we  find  it. 
All  persons  who  are  really  noble  and  sincere  live  to  do 
good ; and,  whether  on  the  platform,  in  the  pulpit,  or 
through  the  press,  or  by  means  of  work  in  silent  and. 
secret  places,  their  influence  goes  forth  as  the  sweet 
perfumes  of  the  choicest  flowers ; wherever  the  blossoms 
are  they  exhale  their  fragrance.  So  every  good  man 
and  woman,  no  matter  where  or  who  he  or  she  may  be, 
is  certain  to  lift  the  morals  of  society  to  a higher  stand- 
ard. Our  work  is  not  to  throw  the  Bibles  of  the  world 
overboard,  nor  to  denounce  the  religion  of  those  about 
us,  but  to  help  all,  so  far  as  we  are  able,  to  see  the  treas- 
ures in  their  own  Scriptures,  and  understand  the  great 
esoteric  verities  which  are  shrouded  in  their  systems  of 
theology.  Let  us,  therefore,  endeavor  to  trace  all  relig- 
ious faiths  and  customs  to  their  primal  source,  gladly 
accepting  all  that  is  good  and  true,  while  throwing  away 
the  refuse ; with  unsparing  hands  break  idols  wherever 
they  stand  in  the  way  of  true  progress,  but  ever  with 
the  intent  of  clearing  ground  for  the  erection  of  larger 
and  nobler  ideals  for  humanity. 

The  parenthood  of  Deity,  the  universal  brotherhood 
and  sisterhood  of  humanity,  are  the  two  essential  planks 
of  the  broad  platform  on  which  all  can  safely  stand. 
With  love  to  all  and  malice  toward  none,  let  us  build 


LECTURE  XVIII. 


407 


our  temples  with  sky-lights  in  the  roof,  so  that  the  light 
of  heaven  may  shine  in  fresh  every  day  ; let  us  go  out 
every  morning  to  pick  up  the  manna  which  has  freshly 
fallen ; let  us  drink  from  the  water  of  the  everflowing 
spring ; let  us  not  desire  the  ancient  or  the  modern  be- 
cause it  is  either  old  or  new,  nor  seek  after  that  which 
goes  under  one  name  or  another  because  of  its  distinct- 
ive appellation,  but  for  truth  alone  in  the  spirit  of  love. 
Those  who  ask  will  find;  those  who  seek  will  surely 
win  the  treasure,  and  to  all  who  knock  upon  the  door 
of  the  temple  of  divine  wisdom  an  answer  will  come, 
an  adapted  ministration  suited  to  the  needs  of  every 
suppliant. 


LECTURE  XIX. 


WHY  ARE  THERE  CONTRADICTORY  TEACHINGS  THROUGH 

MEDIUMS  ? — WHAT  IS  THE  TRUE  STANDARD  OF 

AUTHORITY  ? 

(Delivered  in  Metropolitan  Temple,  San  Francisco,  March  31, 1889.  Published  by 
particular  request.) 

We  have  often  been  particularly  requested  to  say 
something  on  the  practical  value  of  communications 
which  are  said  to  be  received  from  the  spirit-world. 

Now  it  seems  to  us  imperatively  necessary  that  we 
should  take  a fair  and  common-sense  position  with  regard 
to  ancient  and  modern  inspiration  and  spiritual  revela- 
tion, so  that  we  may  not  be  led  either  to  blindly  indorse 
whatsoever  purports  to  be  of  spiritual  origin,  or  to  de- 
nounce anything  without  positive  knowledge  that  it 
is  false;  we  certainly  are  not  justified  in  proclaiming 
as  evil  that  which  does  not  at  first  commend  itself  to 
the  outer  degrees  of  our  understanding,  nor  are  we 
justified  in  accepting  as  truth  whatever  tickles  our 
fancy  or  supports  our  preconceptions. 

We  have  always  maintained  that  a spiritual  revela- 
tion does  not  undertake  to  reveal  to  mankind  anything 
he  can  learn  as  readily  from  mundane  sources ; com- 
munion with  the  spirit-world  is  not  properly  a substi- 
tute for  normal  education ; we  must  not  infer  that  our 


LECTURE  XIX. 


409 


true  attitude  to  the  spirit-world  is  an  attitude  of  abject 
dependence  or  of  servile  adoration. 

On  the  other  hand,  an  intelligent  view  of  the  endless 
continuity  of  individual  life,  an  intelligent  view  of  the 
position  which  is  now  being  taken  by  the  most  enlight- 
ened minds  everywhere,  viz. : that  there  is  no  death, 
and  that  when  the  material  form  drops  away  we  go  on 
living  as  we  lived  before  in  mind  and  morals,  though 
ever  progressing  nearer  and  nearer  to  a divine  goal  of 
surpassing  excellence  which  beggars  all  description  and 
is  beyond  the  furthest  flight  of  our  imagination  — leads 
us  to  readily  admit  that  in  harmony  with  divine  jus- 
tice there  can  be  no  perfect  heaven  for  one  portion  of 
humanity  awaiting  them  the  moment  they  cast  aside 
their  material  bodies,  and  no  dark  and  dreadful  hell 
awaiting  others  immediately  they  shuffle  off  this  mortal 
coil;  our  own  reason,  our  own  right  feeling,  our  own 
intelligent  sense  of  justice  tell  us  that  the  spiritual 
world  can  neither  be  divided  into  one,  two,  nor  four 
departments,  and  that  there  is  an  infinite  meaning  in 
the  oft-quoted  passage  of  the  New  Testament : In  my 
Father’s  house  are  many  mansions ; I go  to  prepare  a 
place  for  you;  if  it  were  not  so  I would  have  told 
you ; ” and  also  in  the  words  of  another  writer  in  the 
New  Testament,  who,  when  speaking  concerning  Judas 
Iscariot,  who  betrayed  his  Master,  pronounced  no  con- 
demnation upon  him,  but  merely  said:  “He  went  to 
his  own  place.”  “He  went  to  his  own  place  ” meant 
that  he  went  to  that  particular  place  whither  he  was 
attracted ; and  without  undertaking  to  say  how  good  or 
how  bad  he  was,  how  wise  or  how  foolish,  how  insincere 


410 


STUDIES  IK  THEOSOPHY. 


or  how  mistaken,  the  writer  allows  the  imagination  and 
the  conscience  to  fill  in  all  the  blanks,  and  contents 
himself  with  saying : ‘‘  He  went  to  his  own  place.” 
Those  words  are  true  universally  of  all  who  depart 
from  the  body. 

When  we  remember  that  in  this  world  if  each  one 
were  to  go  to  his  own  place  this  moment  — if  all  the 
barriers  of  distance,  land  and  water,  were  removed,  and 
we  could  all  go  just  where  we  pleased,  associating  with 
whomsoever  we  would,  and  engaging  in  any  pastime  or 
occupation  which  pleased  us  most  — even  in  an  audience 
of  a few  hundreds,  like  the  assembly  gathered  here  this 
morning,  there  might  be  a few  hundred  different  places 
selected;  and  when  the  millions  upon  millions  of  the 
earth’s  population  are  taken  into  consideration,  and  we 
see  before  our  mental  vision  each  going  to  his  own 
place  from  all  quarters  of  the  globe,  how  readily  we 
must  perceive  that  the  natural  result  of  this  must  be 
that  the  North  American  Indian  will  still  pursue  the 
chase,  even  though  it  be  but  in  imagination  and  sub- 
jectively in  his  own  mind,  until  he  has  outgrown  the 
desire  to  hunt  buffalo  on  the  prairie.  How  naturally  we 
can  conclude  that  the  Mussulman,  aiming  at  an  exten- 
sion of  the  term  of  physical  enjoyment,  goes  to  a state 
and  condition  where  so-called  angels  of  paradise  take  the 
place  (ever  in  a subjective  sense)  of  earthly  women; 
and  how  readily  we  can  imagine  the  contemplative 
Brahmin  and  the  self-denying  Buddhist  passing  gladly 
away  from  all  material  haunts,  pains,  and  pleasures, 
resting  in  those  calm  worlds  which  lead  up  at  length 
to  the  absolute  glories  of  Nirvana^  a condition  of  abso- 


LECTURE  XIX.  4ll 

lute  spiritual  blessedness  and  entire  immunity  from  all 
physical  thought  and  desire.  How  readily  we  can  fancy 
the  Greek,  with  his  wonderful  love  of  beauty  and  sym- 
metry, going  into  a world  where  painters,  sculptors,  and 
poets  have  gone,  and  inspiring  those  of  future  genera- 
tions upon  earth  to  become  yet  diviner  in  the  execution 
of  their  artistic  faculties  than  were  the  most  renowned 
among  artists  of  old ; and  how  readily  we  can  fancy 
the  politician,  the  clergyman,  the  lawyer,  the  doctor,  all 
going  out  into  a realm  of  spirit  and  finding  there  in  the 
kingdom  of  mind  certain  difficulties  to  adjust,  mental 
ills  to  cure,  mistakes  to  correct,  and  moral  lessons  to 
learn  — and  then  inspiring  mankind  as  best  they  can 
with  the  wiser  laws,  deeper  truths,  and  more  spiritual 
facts  which  they  have  discovered.  How  readily  we  can 
fancy  the  soldier,  with  his  war-like  impulse,  beginning 
perhaps  with  those  who  were  engaged  in  warfare  about 
him,  still  entertaining  the  thought  that  physical  strife 
on  earth  is  yet  needful,  but  at  length  outgrowing  all 
thought  of  an  outward  encounter,  and  bending  all  his 
war-like  impulses  to  fighting  with  abstract  evils  and 
demolishing  the  very  foundations  of  the  citadel  of  error. 
How  readily  we  can  feel  that  the  men  and  women  of 
the  world  — the  mere  frivolous  butterflies  of  fashion, 
who  seek  hither  and  thither  amusement  to  while  away 
the  idle  hour,  who  are  by  no  means  vicious,  and  yet  live 
a life  which  is  better  befitting  an  insect  than  a rational 
creature  — find  for  the  time  being  no  other  enjoyment, 
no  other  pursuit  or  desire  in  their  mind  than  to  roam 
through  the  fields  of  space  and  play  with  this  and  the 
other  joy  or  beauty  which  they  encounter  in  their  sur- 


412 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


roundings.  We  cannot  feel  that  death,  which  is  simply 
laying  the  material  form  aside,  can  all  in  a moment  trans- 
form the  character  or  alter  the  bent  of  mental  pursuit. 

While  there  may  be,  and  doubtless  is,  a world  of 
light  and  loveliness  where  all  are  engaged  in  the  wor- 
ship of  God  and  the  service  of  humanity,  in  the  very 
highest  meaning  which  we  can  attach  to  those  phrases ; 
while  after  ages  of  progression  every  human  spirit 
reaches  a point  where  all  earthliness  is  refined  away,  all 
mistakes  are  corrected,  and  the  affections  exclusively 
set  upon  the  highest  good  — until  that  glorious  consum- 
mation arrives,  all  are  growing,  constantly  advancing, 
and  those  who  are  yet  in  mortal  form  and  those  who 
have  cast  it  aside  are  members  of  one  family  and  one 
household;  they  are  soldiers  in  one  army,  citizens  of 
the  same  great  republic. 

Feeling,  therefore,  that  death  is  not  what  so  many 
people  suppose  it  to  be : the  sudden  termination  of  all 
so-called  earthly  activity,  — regarding  death  in  no  sense 
in  the  light  of  an  abrupt  ending  either  to  mental  pur- 
suit or  to  the  desires  of  the  heart,  we  do  not  expect 
in  the  realm  of  spirit  to  come  in  contact  only  with  in- 
fallible oracles,  who  can  inspire  the  world  to  the  loftiest 
deeds  of  heroism  or  to  the  accomplishment  of  the  great- 
est and  noblest  designs ; on  the  contrary,  we  expect  to 
have  this  lesson  taught  us  by  constant  spiritual  com- 
munion that  As  the  tree  falls  so  shall  it  lie  ” ; that 
where  the  tree  falls  there  shall  it  lie  ” ; whether  it 
fall  to  the  north  or  to  the  south,  to  the  east  or  to  the 
west;  whether  it  fall  in  the  young  beauty  of  the  sap- 
ling or  in  the  full-blown  splendor  of  the  perfected  tree ; 


LECTURE  XIX. 


413 


whether  it  fall  in  a condition  of  perfect  health  and  vigor, 
or  in  any  way  maimed  and  imperfect ; as  it  falls  so  does 
it  lie,  for  there  and  in  that  condition  does  it  begin  those 
transformations,  which,  going  on  perhaps  forever  and 
forever,  can  only  start  from  that  point  where  the  mind 
was  found  at  the  moment  when  what  is  termed  death 
released  the  spirit  and  terminated  its  career  on  earth. 

Many  orthodox  Christians  have  so  long  been  accus- 
tomed to  misinterpret  the  similes  of  Scripture,  that  in- 
stead of  conforming  their  interpretation  to  Nature  and 
allowing  the  images  to  speak  for  themselves,  they  argue 
an  impossible  deduction  from  a very  simple  illustration. 
No  one  has  ever  seen  a tree  remain  unchanged  year 
after  year  and  century  after  century;  no  one  has  ever 
seen  a fallen  tree  lying  by  the  banks  of  a river,  or  out  in 
a forest,  subject  to  no  change  or  decay;  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  after  a while  the  tree  is  completely  changed 
in  its  form ; all  there  was  of  it  has  been  absorbed  into 
the  earth  or  has  evaporated  into  the  air ; and  while  the 
tree  began  to  change  in  that  place,  and  its  transforma- 
tions started  from  that  condition  wherein  it  fell,  there 
never  was  a tree  that  remained  in  the  condition  and  in 
the  place  where  it  fell  even  for  a century,  to  say  nothing 
of  forever.  The  very  similes  which  have  been  contin- 
ually employed  as  arguing  against  progression  in  the 
life  beyond,  and  an  infinite  diversity  in  the  states  and 
conditions  of  spirit-life,  in  reality  were  intended  to  sig- 
nify the  very  opposite  of  what  commentators  and  inter- 
preters have  argued  from  them. 

In  every  age  of  the  world  the  great  simple  and  natural 
truth  has  been  revealed  to  man,  that  the  human  spirit  in 


414 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


the  body  and  the  human  spirit  out  of  the  body  are  not 
only  near  neighbors,  but  are  identical  in  their  amena- 
bility to  the  immutable  laws  of  growth  and  expansion. 
We  find  that  every  desire  or  endeavor  to  make  a dis- 
tinction where  none  naturally  exists,  to  create  a differ- 
ence where  there  is  none  in  reality,  between  the  friend 
on  earth  and  the  spirit  friend,  leads  to  specious  forms  of 
idolatry,  sends  people  forward  on  ridiculous  errands,  and 
lifts  them  up  with  the  false  belief  that  they  are  specially 
great  and  wonderful  instruments  of  heaven,  as  other 
people  are  not,  and  often  makes  them  believe  that  the 
highest  spirits  named  in  some  illustrious  literature  are 
forever  by  their  side ; whereas,  spiritual  communion  in 
and  of  itself,  divested  of  all  unnatural  accretions,  means 
no  more  than  this : that  we  continue  to  remain  in  the 
family  in  which  we  now  are ; and  though  we  are  certain 
there  are  many  people  who  are  thoroughly  sincere,  per- 
fectly conscientious  in  their  beliefs,  — and  we  would  not 
say  one  unkind  or  harsh  word  concerning  them,  or  en- 
deavor to  take  from  them  any  consolation  which  they 
receive  from  their  peculiar  belief  in  a certain  kind  of 
spiritual  communion,  — yet  we  would  urge  all  investi- 
gators not  to  be  so  much  carried  away,  as  they  usually 
are,  by  grandiloquent  utterances,  or  by  great  promises 
and  high-sounding  names. 

It  is  true  that  all  have  a great  and  holy  work  to  do,  all 
have  a mission  in  life.  It  is  true  that  no  one  came  into 
the  world  by  accident;  every  one  has  a vocation,  and 
should  endeavor  to  make  his  calling  and  election  sure ; 
but  while  it  is  a great  truth  that  not  one  of  you  goes 
through  the  world  alone,  unattended  by  angel  legions,  a 


LECTURE  XIX. 


415 


great  cloud  of  witnesses  surround  you  all,  and  you  all  have 
a niche  to  fill  in  the  great  temple  of  the  universe ; while 
it  is  perfectly  true  in  the  larger  sense  that  you  all  have 
some  great  and  holy  mission  to  fulfill,  it  is  not  true  in 
the  smaller  sense  that  Miss  Smith  has  an  important  mis- 
sion in  life  while  Miss  Brown  has  not,  one’s  mission  being 
in  no  sense  so  very  much  greater  and  more  important 
than  another’s,  even  though  Mr.  Jones  may  be  called  by 
the  angel  world  to  do  a work  for  humanity  that  Mr.  White 
can  never  accomplish.  It  is  simply  universally  true  that 
every  individual  has  his  own  work  to  do  and  his  own 
inspiration  to  follow;  but  that  tendency  of  the  human 
mind  to  rejoice  in  being  flattered,  that  tendency  in  human 
fancy  to  set  one’s  self  upon  a pedestal,  feeling  one  is 
called  to  do  something  greater  and  more  beautiful  than 
any  other  person,  is  a very  unhappy  and  a very  unfortu- 
nate state  in  which  many  persons  are  found. 

What  we  urge  upon  all  inquirers  into  Spiritualism, 
upon  all  persons  who  sit  for  spirit  communication  or  who 
have  mediumistic  power,  is  that  they  value  a communica- 
tion for  its  intrinsic  worth,  and  not  be  forever  asking 
who  it  is  that  is  communicating  and  what  is  the  name 
of  the  spirit.  If  you  are  dealing  with  personal  matters, 
if  you  desire  to  receive  a communication  from  your 
mother  or  your  child,  then  the  giving  of  a name  is  often 
a necessary  test  of  identity.  If  you  go  to  a circle  and 
are  told  that  some  dear  friend  of  yours  has  a message  for 
you,  and  the  medium  is  a perfect  stranger  — no  matter 
whether  the  word  is  spoken  or  written,  whether  it  comes 
between  closed  slates  or  on  a ballot,  or  is  uttered  through 
the  lips  — a name  is  sometimes  a great  test  of  spiritual 


416 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


presence,  one  which  is  very  satisfactory  and  helpful  to 
you,  as  it  constitutes  a link  which  binds  you  in  a pecu- 
liarly near  and  affectionate  manner  to  the  spiritual  world. 
We  do  not  say  you  should  not  rejoice  in  getting  the 
names  of  your  friends  given  to  you  through  strangers 
when  you  are  studying  psychological  laws  and  endeavor- 
ing to  obtain  intelligent  spirit  communication  ; but  what 
we  do  say  is  this : You  did  not  enjoy  personal  acquain- 
tance on  earth  with  Jesus  Christ  and  the  Apostles;  you 
were  not  personally  acquainted  with  Solomon,  Moses, 
Elijah,  Confucius,  nor  with  any  of  those  wonderful  peo- 
ple who  are  mentioned  so  much  in  spiritual  communica- 
tions, consequently  the  fact  of  such  names  as  those  being 
given  is  no  test  of  spirit  identity ; it  does  not  proclaim 
in  any  special  way  that  the  friendships  of  earth  are  con- 
tinued in  the  life  beyond,  and  there  is  no  added  proof  of 
genuineness  attached  to  a communication  because  it 
bears  any  such  signature.  Consequently  we  are  always 
pleased  when  ideas  are  put  forward  first ; let  the  ques- 
tion of  whom  they  come  from  be  inquired  into  later  on, 
if  at  all. 

We  will  make  no  concession  whatever  to  theological 
or  any  other  kind  of  bigotry,  to  those  who  would  be 
ashamed  to  own  a truth  because  they  thought  it  was 
unpopular,  nor  would  we  wish  to  give  countenance  to 
any  unworthy  spirit  of  suspicion ; but  there  are  a large 
number  of  people  who  are  so  constituted  that  if  you  can 
give  them  the  spiritual  kernel  without  so  much  chaff,  if 
you  can  give  them  the  genuine  spiritual  communication 
without  wrapping  it  in  so  many  envelopes,  if  you  can 
divest  it  of  all  unnecessary  outward  accretions  — which 


LECTUKE  XIX. 


417 


disguise  rather  than  reveal  truth  — though  you  may  think 
you  have  given  less  and  the  communication  is  less  won- 
derful, it  is  far  more  convincing.  We  can  tell  you  our 
own  experience,  and  nothing  else,  has  led  us  to  decidedly 
assume  the  attitude  that  it  is  most  undesirable  to  try 
and  receive  evidences  of  the  presence  of  great  person- 
ages, and  to  seek  for  very,  very  wonderful  works  ; judg- 
ing by  the  nature  of  the  communications  themselves,  we 
have  found  again  and  again  that  those  which  are  practi- 
cally anonymous  are  by  far  the  most  inspiring  in  a major- 
ity of  instances. 

We  knew  a very  beautiful  lady  in  New  York  who  was 
a private  medium ; the  most  exquisite  poetry  was  written 
through  her  hand  — splendid  poems,  day  after  day,  were 
written  upon  a great  variety  of  subjects.  Her  friends 
said  to  her : ‘‘  Who  is  your  control  ? It  must  be  some 
very  great  poet.”  The  lady  answered  in  a most  artless 
and  simple  manner : A few  years  ago  I had  a young 
lady  boarding  with  me  to  whom  I was  very  much  at- 
tached ; she  was  very  fond  of  poetry ; she  passed  away 
very  suddenly,  and  she  has  regularly  inspired  me  ever 
since ; that  young  lady,  who  was  once  an  inmate  of  my 
family,  writes  these  poems  through  me.”  Those  poemo 
were  so  beautiful,  so  exquisite  in  their  composition  and 
"so  refined  in  their  sentiment,  that  if  the  name  of  Byron 
had  been  given  people  would  have  said:  ‘‘Byron  has 
improved  greatly  since  he  passed  into  the  spirit-world.” 

In  a very,  very  large  number  of  instances,  if  a few 
lines  of  verse  are  given  it  is  said  to  come  from  some  one 
who  had  such  a reputation  on  earth  as  a poet  that  the 
claim  deters  the  public  from  believing  there  was  any 


418 


STUDIES  IK  THEOSOPHY. 


inspiration  in  it,  because  those  lines  are  not  nearly  up  to 
the  earthly  standard. 

Now,  of  course  there  is  a way  out  of  all  these  diffi- 
culties : it  may  be  said  that  when  these  great  minds 
were  on  earth  they  had  their  own  organisms  to  work 
through,  and  their  own  organisms  were  far  better 
adapted  to  the  work  in  hand  than  the  organisms  which 
they  are  now  endeavoring  to  manipulate ; that  it  took 
them  a long  time  to  use  their  own  brains  perfectly,  and 
now  that  they  are  endeavoring  to  work  through  others 
they  find  themselves  at  a great  disadvantage.  Of  course, 
this  is  reasonable  enough,  and  may  often  be  the  case ; 
but  another  great  point  that  ought  to  be  raised  in  all 
such  instances  is,  that  these  very  individuals  who  have 
been  singled  out  as  so  great  and  wonderful  upon  the 
earth  were  not,  in  reality,  so  much  greater  than  others 
as  they  are  supposed  to  have  been ; and  what  is  more, 
they  were  not  really  the  sole  authors  of  the  works  which 
have  borne  their  names.  Homer’s  ^Hliad”  is  one  of  the 
most  magnificent  poetical  compositions  on  earth,  but  no 
scholar  to-day  believes  that  a single  Greek  poet  by  the 
name  of  Homer  wrote  the  entire  Iliad.”  The  Iliad  ” was 
the  production  of  a period,  and  instead  of  giving  credit 
to  one  man  as  its  sole  author,  we  cannot  doubt  that  it 
should  be  regarded  as  a result  of  the  poetic  inspirations 
of  the  period.  Now,  it  does  not  detract  from  the  beauty 
of  the  ^Hliad”  as  a classical  poem  to  take  this  view  of  it ; 
it  remains  as  great  as  it  ever  was,  for  it  has  an  intrinsic 
value  all  its  own.  To-day  there  are  serious  questions  as 
to  whether  the  plays  of  Shakespeare  were  all  written  by 
him,  it  being  conceded  in  many  quarters  that  Lord 


LECTURE  XIX. 


419 


Bacon  and  others  may  have  had  a great  deal  to  do  with 
the  Shakespearian  productions ; but  the  plays  themselves 
are  just  as  great  — and  always  will  be  — as  though  a 
man  named  William  Shakespeare  wrote  every  word  of 
them ; you  will  not  enjoy  them  any  the  less  the  next 
time  you  hear  and  see  them  acted  upon  the  stage.  It  is 
not  a question  of  where  they  came  from  or  when  they 
were  written,  but  solely  of  what  they  are  intrinsically 
worth,  which  determines  their  value. 

So  with  the  entire  Bible  and  with  all  sacred  literature. 
You  cannot  in  the  present  state  of  controversy  declare 
that  Moses  wrote  all  the  Pentateuch ; indeed,  there  are 
valid  reasons  for  assuming  that  he  did  not  write  more 
than  a small  portion,  if  he  wrote  any  of  it.  The  books 
containing  the  Mosaic  law  are  certainly  not  five  books 
written  by  the  hand  of  Moses ; and  while  it  is  utterly 
impossible  to  decide  what  words  in  the  Gospels  were 
uttered  by  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  while  even  a cloud  of  doubt 
rests  over  the  personality  of  Christ  altogether,  and  there 
are  now  many  scholars  who  are  not  prepared  to  affirm 
positively  whether  Jesus  ever  lived  or  not,  every  word 
in  the  Mosaic  law,  every  precept  in  the  Gospels  contains 
just  as  much  truth,  is  just  as  valuable  and  edifying  as  if 
we  knew  exactly  where  it  came  from  and  who  wrote  it 
— as  valuable  as  though  we  had  been  on  the  spot  and 
were  witnesses  to  every  utterance  and  writing.  What 
does  it  matter  to  us  whether  the  ten  commandments 
were  given  thirty-one  hundred  years  ago  from  the  top 
of  Mount  Sinai,  or  whether  they  were  known  to  the 
ancient  Atlantians  and  to  the  pre-historic  races  which 
inhabited  Central  America  before  some  great  cataclysm 


420 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


had  changed  the  positions  of  land  and  water  upon  the 
globe  ? What  does  it  matter  whether  the  reputed  say- 
ings of  Jesus  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  were  uttered 
two  thousand  years  ago,  or  whether  they  were  uttered 
in  ancient  temples  of  the  antediluvian  world  whose 
ruins  have  long  rested  under  the  bed  of  the  ocean  ? The 
commandments  are  no  less  binding,  and  the  Gospels  no 
less  inspired.  Moral  truth  is  no  less  sublime  because 
its  history  is  lost  sight  of ; it  can  be  of  no  greater  value 
because  we  know  the  day  and  the  hour  when  it  was  first 
delivered  to  the  world,  the  personality  through  whom 
utterance  was  given  to  it,  and  the  circumstances  which 
attended  its  proclamation ! If  we  can  rise  from  the 
lower  to  the  higher  level  of  thought,  and,  instead  of 
bowing  down  to  its  antecedents,  judge  of  the  jewel  by 
its  own  worth,  we  shall  not  be  deceived  any  longer  by 
imitations.  But  unfortunately,  in  the  minds  of  a great 
many  people  the  inquiry  is  not  what  is  said,  but  who 
said  it.  And  does  not  this  apply  to  agnostics  as  well  as 
to  Christians  ? A Christian  will  accept  anything  on  the 
alleged  authority  of  Jesus  or  if  it  is  in  the  Bible,  but 
many  and  many  an  agnostic  will  accept  any  statement 
on  the  say-so  of  Tyndall,  Huxley,  Darwin,  or  Spencer. 
If  we  set  up  these  modern  idols  in  the  scientific  world 
and  bow  down  to  them  as  authorities,  we  are  just  as 
guilty  of  superstition  and  idolatry  as  though  we  bowed 
to  the  dictum  of  the  old  prophets.  If  we  make  of  a 
modern  scientist  a lord  and  ruler,  and  allow  him  to  de- 
cide everything  for  us,  and  then  foolishly  speak  about 
what  Science  says,  when  all  we  mean  is  what  a certain 
individual  says,  we  shall  fall  into  just  as  many  difficul- 


LECTURE  XIX. 


421 


ties  and  be  just  as  superstitious  as  ever  were  the  ancients 
whose  superstitions  we  affect  to  despise.  Unfortunately 
there  are  very  few  original  thinkers  in  the  world ; un- 
fortunately, also,  there  are  very  few  independent  minds, 
very  few  people  who  will  appeal  directly  to  God  or 
directly  to  Nature,  who  will  interrogate  the  universe  and 
stand  up  in  the  royalty  of  their  own  manhood  and  woman- 
hood and  acknowledge  that  God  and  truth  are  as  near  to 
them  as  to  any  so-called  authority. 

As  long  as  we  allow  the  adoration  of  persons  and  the 
adoration  of  books,  the  works  of  modern  scientists  and 
philosophers,  we  create  fetiches  as  much  as  ever  the 
Bibles  of  antiquity  have  become  objects  of  fetich  adora- 
tion; just  as  surely  do  we  set  up  new  idols  and  bow 
down  to  new  graven  images,  when  we  quote  authorities 
forever  as  much  as  though  we  were  to  confine  ourselves 
to  beliefs  of  the  most  unwarrantable  character  that  have 
come  to  us  from  the  past.  Why  not  be  free,  why  not 
enter  so  fully  into  the  liberty  of  the  spirit  that  we  can 
hear  everything  and  read  everything,  and  then  allow 
our  own  moral  sense  and  highest  judgment  to  discrimi- 
nate between  the  chaff  and  the  wheat,  between  the 
precious  and  the  vile  ? Why  not  go  fearlessly  into  the 
presence  of  the  mightiest  intellect  and  the  meanest? 
Why  not  read  books  hoary  with  age  and  those  yet 
moist  from  the  printing-press  with  equal  respect  ? Why 
not  listen  to  the  words  of  those  universally  admired  and 
also  of  those  who  in  solitary  hiding-places,  living  apart 
from  men,  are  called  recluses  or  even  cranks,”  and 
pay  equal  deference  to  all ; acknowledge  your  bootblack 
and  your  laundryman  as  being  possibly  as  near  to  God 


422 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


as  any  ancient  prophet  or  modern  scribe  ? And  when 
you  allow  every  word  that  is  spoken,  every  message 
that  is  given,  every  page  that  is  written,  be  it  ancient 
or  modern,  be  it  couched  in  elegant  phraseology  or 
draped  in  the  humblest  form  of  words,  to  appeal  to  your 
own  conscience  and  reason,  and  assume  a reasonable 
attitude  with  regard  to  all,  you  will  then  lay  upon  the 
shelf  and  remain  non-committal  toward  that  Avhich  does 
not  convince  your  spirit  as  yet,  and  gladly  accept  what 
feeds  you  of  the  bread  of  truth,  no  matter  where  it  may 
have  been  made,  or  by  whom  outwardly  presented. 
When  in  this  attitude  we  rise  forever  superior  to  a 
blind  idolatry  of  persons,  and  not  only  do  we  protest 
against  past  superstition,  but  we  protest  with  equal 
vigor  against  that  foolish  idolatry  in  the  agnostic  world 
which  sets  up  a few  modern  authorities  and  calls  upon 
the  world  to  bow  down  and  worship  them  as  foolishly 
as  ever  the  ancients  worshiped  the  golden  calf  or  a 
golden  image  set  up  by  an  impious  king.  If  we  con- 
tinue to  bow  down  to  personal  minds,  if  we  allow  repre- 
sentative individuals  to  become  the  sole  leaders  of 
thought  and  of  opinion,  if  we  dare  not  stand  up  for  our 
own  divine  manhood  and  womanhood,  we  shall  never 
receive  the  highest  revelation.  And  if  we  think  that 
something  is  any  the  better  because  uttered  by  an  illus- 
trious or  popular  person,  or  any  the  worse  because  it 
comes  through  the  mediumship  of  a street  urchin,  we 
shall  never  be  in  a condition  to  deliver  ourselves  from 
the  bonds  of  that  mesmeric  control  which  holds  the  ma- 
jority of  people  in  the  leading-strings  of  fashion,  and 
compels  them  to  bow  at  any  idol-shrine,  because  the 


LECTUHE  XIX. 


423 


popular  voice  calls  them  to  that  shrine  to  worship.  Peo- 
ple who  follow  the  popular  idol  of  the  hour  are  as  fickle 
as  the  winds ; they  change  with  the  weather-cock,  and 
are  but  barometers  or  thermometers  at  best,  as  at  every 
change  in  the  temperature  or  condition  of  the  weather 
they  can  be  pressed  into  the  service  of  the  greatest  re- 
form, provided  a good  and  noble  man  is  the  fashion  for 
the  time ; or  they  may  be  dragged  to  the  level  of  the 
greatest  folly  and  even  sin  and  be  taken  in  by  the  mean- 
est swindler,  provided  that  swindler  or  imposter  is  at  the 
top  of  the  social  ladder  for  the  time  being.  Persons 
who  do  not  use  their  own  reason,  who  try  instead  to  use 
the  reason  of  somebody  else,  who  do  not  use  their  own 
conscience  but  try  to  be  guided  by  the  moral  sense  of 
some  one  else,  who  believe  that  God  makes  a revelation 
to  some  other  people  but  not  to  them,  will  never  come 
into  that  living  knowledge  of  truth  where  they  will  be 
able  to  appreciate  the  full  dignity  and  power  of  the 
words  of  Jesus : If  I say  the  truth  why  do  ye  not  be- 
lieve me  ? ” 

The  highest  grandeur  and  dignity  of  the  character  of 
Jesus,  as  portrayed  in  the  Gospels,  consisted  in  this : 
that  he  did  not  stand  before  the  world  and  say : I am 
God,  and  you  will  go  to  hell  if  you  do  not  believe  it  ” ; 
he  did  not  say : I am  the  Divine  Being,  and  unless  you 
believe  I am  the  second  person  of  the  Blessed  Trinity 
your  soul  is  in  danger  ” ; nothing  of  the  kind.  Jesus 
appealed  to  the  divine  sense  in  man  ; he  spoke  words  of 
truth,  and  he  knew  when  man  was  willing  to  listen  to 
the  Divine  Word  that  he  had  the  capacity  within  himself 
for  understanding  it ; therefore  he  said : “ If  I say  the 


424 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


truth,  why  do  ye  not  believe  me?”  What  was  the 
meaning  of  this?  If  I say  what  you  know  and  feel 
inwardly  to  be  the  truth,  if  I make  an  appeal  to  your 
conscience,  if  there  is  a living  monitor  within  you  that 
bears  witness  to  my  spirit,  which  is  in  harmony  with 
the  spirit  of  the  truth  uttered  through  me,  why  not 
believe  me  ? why  allow  prejudice,  pride,  fashion,  or  any 
hope  or  fear  of  the  world’s  praise  or  condemnation  to 
prevent  you  from  acknowledging  truth?  If  any  one 
had  turned  to  Jesus  and  said : ‘‘  I do  not  think  what  you 
say  is  true  ; it  may  be  true,  but  I do  not  understand  it 
as  truth,”  do  you  think  Jesus  would  have  occupied  the 
position  of  the  charlatan  and  said : “You  must  believe 
it,  because  I say  it.”  No,  he  would  have  argued  with 
such  a person  — not  reprimanded;  and  even  might  have 
gone  so  far  as  to  perform  what  might  be  called  a “ mir- 
acle ” to  produce  conviction.  He  would  have  worked 
with  the  understanding  of  the  critic,  and  spared  neither 
time  nor  energy  in  making  the  matter  plain  to  him,  but 
never  would  have  asked  any  one  to  accept  anything 
upon  his  verbal  authority.  When  the  disciples  of  John 
came  to  the  disciples  of  Jesus  to  inquire  as  to  the  dignity 
of  their  Master,  did  J esus  point  to  any  authority  other 
than  that  of  practically  demonstrated  good  ? He  said,  in 
effect.  My  system,  my  teaching,  heals  the  sick  and  casts 
out  devils  — that  is,  puts  down  immoralities  and  makes 
the  world  more  virtuous ; blind  eyes  are  opened,  deaf 
ears  hear,  the  lame  walk ; you  can  therefore  see  for 
yourselves  the  blessed  and  beneficial  effect  of  my  teach- 
ings. For  that  reason,  and  for  that  reason  only,  you  are 
called  upon  to  acknowledge  what  I teach  as  truth. 


LECTTJKE  XIX. 


425 


There  was  a direct  appeal  to  human  understanding, 
to  human  intelligence,  as  well  as  to  conscience  or  the 
moral  sense. 

The  entire  question  resolves  itself  into  this : If  there 
is  anything  marvelous  or  mysterious  occurring,  if  there 
is  any  wonder  connected  with  the  source  whence  some- 
thing proceeds,  if  sometimes  great  promises  are  made 
involving  great  predictions,  and  you  feel  that  while  they 
do  not  contradict  your  reason  they  very,  very  far  tran- 
scend it ; if  statements  are  made  to  you  which  you  can 
neither  verify  nor  disprove  because  they  are  beyond  and 
above  your  ken,  how  should  you  judge  of  the  sources 
whence  they  emanate  ? 

Judge  of  what  is  beyond  your  present  means  of  inves- 
tigation by  the  tone  and  tenor  of  what  is  within  the 
limits  of  your  investigation.  We  should  say  in  every 
instance  that  the  amount  of  truth  that  is  being  put  for- 
ward anywhere  under  any  circumstances,  may  be  judged 
by  the  effects  upon  the  lives  of  those  who  come  under 
its  influence  in  every  individual  case.  If  you  ask  how 
you  shall  decide  whether  a spiritual  being  who  manifests 
to  you  comes  from  above  or  from  below,  if  you  desire 
to  try  the  spirits  and  prove  whether  they  are  of  God, 
whether  you  shall  accept  the  advice  which  comes  from 
a spiritual  source  or  refuse  to  admit  it,  judge  it  by  the 
influence  which  comes  with  it  and  its  efi'ect  upon  your 
life.  All  those  old  communications  with  the  prefix  : 

Thus  saith  the  Lord,”  which  when  followed  resulted 
in  error,  havoc  and  misery,  were  communications  which 
would  never  have  come  to  the  house  of  Israel  if  it  had 
not  been  for  idolatries,  backsliding  and  mammon-worship. 


426 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


Many  times  “ Thus  saith  the  Lord  ” sanctioned  murder, 
when  the  commandment  had  been  already  given : ‘‘  Thou 
shalt  not  kill.”  ‘‘  Thus  saith  the  Lord  ” put  to  death  inno- 
cent women  and  children  who  were  taken  prisoners  in 
war.  It  would,  in  many  such  cases,  have  been  more  appro- 
priate if  the  prefix  had  been  “Thus  saith  the  devil.” ^ 
When  the  people  were  demoralized  they  could  not  dis- 
criminate between  the  voice  of  truth  and  the  voice  of 
false  gods,  because  they  themselves  were  sunk  in  immor- 
ality and  idolatry,  because  they  had  descended  to  a 
brutal  plane  of  thought  and  action,  and  by  their  own 
depravity  had  beclouded  the  moral  sense ; they  were 
ready  to  accept  anything  as  coming  from  a higher  world, 
provided  there  was  something  marvelous  or  mysterious 
about  it.  Was  not  the  magical  element,  the  merely  mi- 
raculous theory,  completely  shown  up  in  the  account  of 
the  plagues  of  Egypt,  when  the  magicians  and  sooth-  , 
sayers  of  the  wicked  Pharaoh  endeavored  to  multiply 
frogs  and  lice  ? They  accomplished  it  just  as  readily  as 
did  Moses ; they  could  imitate  the  magic  of  Moses  per- 
fectly. But  how  did  Moses  show  his  superiority  to  the 
Egyptian  soothsayers  who  sanctioned  the  wicked  prac- 
tices of  the  tyrant  of  that  day  ? Moses  could  remove 
the  plagues  and  they  could  but  intensify  them.  Moses 
could  clear  the  land  of  frogs  ; he  could  cause  the  boils 
to  disappear  from  the  bodies  of  the  afflicted.  Virtue 
and  health  were  manifested  when  divine  power  worked 
through  a truly  inspired  leader.  But  as  long  as  Moses 

^ These  remarks  refer  exclusively  to  the  letter  of  the  Bible,  and  do 
not  cast  the  slightest  reflection  upon  its  interior  or  correspondential 
meaning. 


LECTURE  XIX. 


427 


was  playing  magician  and  working  miracles,  and  that 
seemed  to  be  all  the  power  he  had,  the  magicians  of  the 
court  of  Pharaoh  could  duplicate  the  wonders  he  per- 
formed, and  put  in  a just  plea  for  equality  with  the 
representative  of  divine  power. 

In  every  age  of  the  world  the  same  thing  has  occurred, 
and  if  any  Christian  says  Christianity  is  supported  by 
miracles,  and  the  miracles  are  incontestable,  then  there 
is  no  evidence  that  Christianity  is  not  ‘‘  the  devil’s  ” 
religion  ; but  if,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is  a spiritual 
power,  a wealth  of  truth,  a sound  moral  influence  ex- 
erted in  its  teachings,  and  by  those  who  harmonize  with 
its  teachings ; if  there  is  a power  accompanying  all  won- 
ders, to  uplift,  redeem,  and  save  humanity,  then  the 
Christian  religion  rests  forever  sure  upon  the  foundation 
of  its  moral  excellence,  while  its  miraculous  side  is  only 
an  accommodation  to  the  as  yet  childish  condition  of  a 
large  number  of  people  who  have  to  be  reached  through 
the  senses  at  first,  because  they  have  not  as  yet  so  fully 
developed  their  inner  perception  that  they  can  do  with- 
out sensuous  demonstrations. 

Try  the  spirits,  whether  they  be  of  God.”  Does  that 
simply  mean  that  you  should  ask  them  who  they  are  ? 
or  see  whether  they  can  do  something  curious  and  inex- 
plicable which  physical  scientists  will  attribute  to  some 
unknown  force  in  Nature,  which  they  will  also  probably 
pronounce  unknowable  ? Does  it  mean  that  you  must 
find  out  whether  they  really  were  some  great  and  re- 
nowned people  of  old?  No;  but  their  communication 
must  carry  its  own  spiritual  influence  with  it  that  appeals 
to  your  spiritual  nature.  You  do  not  want  any  other 


428 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


evidence  that  a bird  is  a sweet  singer  than  that  you  hear 
it  sing  sweetly ; you  do  not  need  any  other  evidence 
of  the  fragrance  of  a flower  than  that  you  inhale  its  per- 
fume ; shut  yourself  in  a dark  room  and  hear  the  song 
of  a canary,  and  you  do  not  need  to  see  the  color  of  its 
plumage ; its  voice  appeals  to  you  in  the  dark  quite 
effectually ; you  can  judge  of  the  bird  by  its  song  and 
the  flower  by  its  perfume. 

And  when  there  comes  to  you  from  an  invisible  realm 
a messenger  whom  you  do  not  see,  when  words  fall  upon 
your  inward  ear  and  a vision  lights  upon  your  interior 
eye ; when  you  feel  a hand  laid  upon  you  in  the  darkness 
and  you  inquire  : Is  this  from  above  or  from  below  ? ” 
and  there  floods  your  mind  along  with  the  phenomenon 
a spiritual  evidence  which  touches  the  deepest  springs 
of  your  being ; if  you  are  aroused  to  some  height  of 
nobility  and  benevolence  by  the  influence  thrown  upon 
you ; if  a communication  humbles  your  pride,  increases 
your  charity,  gives  you  a deeper  and  diviner  sense  of 
justice ; if  it  sends  you  out  into  the  world  determined  to 
do  more  to  help  humanity  than  you  have  ever  done  be- 
fore, and  if  there  is  a thrill  of  divine  response  within 
you,  then  you  can  judge  truly  of  the  divinity  of  the 
message  and  the  messenger  by  the  spiritual  influence 
that  you  feel  inwardly.  In  every  instance,  then,  let  us 
judge  by  the  spiritual  power  and  influence  that  con- 
vinces us.  When  we  apply  the  inward  test,  we  can  say 
to  every  spirit  who  approaches  : I can  know  of  you  by 
the  influence  you  exert  upon  me ; can  you  touch  ni}^ 
moral  nature  and  elevate  me  to  a diviner  plane,  or 
can  you  not?”  We  should  judge  of  the  sincerity, 


LECTURE  XIX. 


429 


truthfulness,  and  genuineness  of  every  communication 
received,  without  caring,  perhaps,  to  know  where  it 
comes  from,  or  by  whom  it  is  delivered,  by  the  in- 
fluence it  leaves  upon  the  individuals  whom  it  reaches 
and  impresses. 

We  have  been  in  meetings  where  people  were  gathered 
together  in  the  name  of  truth,  humbly  desiring  an  out- 
pouring of  the  spirit,  and  we  have  been  in  places  where 
there  seemed  to  be  little  expectation  or  thought,  but 
where  the  spirit  of  truth  undoubtedly  came ; old  quar- 
rels were  ended,  the  stingy  became  benevolent,  the 
hard-hearted  were  melted  to  tears,  wrongs  were  buried, 
friendships  were  formed,  and  the  angel  of  truth  showed 
its  presence  by  these  results. 

If  we  insist  upon  applying  a moral  rather  than  an 
external  or  sensuous  test  we  can  never  be  deceived,  for 
whatever  opportunity  there  may  be  for  counterfeiting  or 
masquerading  on  the  external  plane,  there  can  be  no 
counterfeit  on  the  spiritual.  A flower  if  it  is  withered 
and  dead  and  in  stagnant  water,  cannot  by  any  manner 
of  means  give  forth  a sweet  odor.  A bird  that  has  not 
the  power  of  song  cannot  warble  sweet  melodies.  In 
the  spiritual  world  flowers  that  are  not  fresh  and  pure, 
that  do  not  come  from  heavenly  bowers,  cannot  breathe 
forth  the  fragrance  of  beauty  and  love  ! Unclean  spirit- 
birds  — which  are  not  birds  of  paradise  — cannot  imitate 
the  note  of  the  songsters  of  the  higher  spheres. 

To  place  ourselves  forever  beyond  the  reach  of  decep- 
tion is  to  so  far  cultivate  our  own  moral  sense  that  the 
atmosphere  of  deception  being  foreign  to  us,  we  detect 
it  at  once,  and  having  outgrown  the  condition  in  which 


430 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


we  can  even  wish  to  deceive  or  do  a wrong,  we  shall 
be  beyond  the  power  of  any  to  make  us  the  victims  of 
deception. 

In  response  to  numerous  interrogations  on  the  sub- 
ject we  state  it  as  our  unalterable  conviction  that  all 
who  investigate  Spiritualism  in  any  of  its  phases  under 
proper  moral  conditions  with  a sincere  desire  to  arrive 
at  truth,  with  benevolent  dispositions  toward  their 
neighbors,  will  ere  long  be  blessed  with  authentic 
revelations  from  the  life  beyond  far  exceeding  all 
past  outpourings,  as  we  have  now  seriously  entered 
upon  a new  era  iii  the  world’s  progressive  history, 
wherein  truth  will  be  embodied  far  more  objectively 
than  in  any  preceding  age  whose  record  is  preserved 
in  the  archives  of  history  accessible  to  the  multitude. 


LECTURE  XX. 


INGEESOLMSM  AND  THEOSOPHY.  — COLONEL  INGER- 

soll’s  creed. 

1.  Happiness  is  the  only  good. 

2.  The  way  to  be  happy  is  to  make  others  happy.  Other  things 
being  equal,  that  man  is  the  happiest  who  is  the  nearest  just — who 
is  truthful,  merciful,  and  intelligent  — in  other  words,  the  man  who 
lives  in  accordance  with  the  conditions  of  life. 

3.  The  time  to  be  happy  is  now,  and  the  place  to  be  happy  is 
here. 

4.  Reason  is  the  lamp  of  the  mind  — the  only  torch  of  progress  ; 
and,  instead  of  blowing  that  out  and  depending  upon  darkness  and 
dogma,  it  is  far  better  to  increase  that  light. 

5.  Every  man  should  be  the  intellectual  proprietor  of  himself  — 
honest  with  himself  and  intellectually  hospitable  — and  upon  every 
brain  reason  should  be  enthroned  as  king. 

6.  Every  man  must  bear  the  consequences,  at  least,  of  his  own 
actions ; if  he  put  his  hand  in  the  fire,  his  hand  must  smart,  and 
not  the  hands  of  another.  In  other  words,  each  man  must  eat  the 
fruit  of  the  tree  he  plants. 

The  above  creed  is  indeed  as  good  a one  as  was  ever 
invented,  though,  of  course,  it  does  not  go  as  far  in  the 
recognition  of  spiritual  truth  as  many  would  desire  to 
have  it.  The  very  word  is  objectionable  in  the  ears  of 
many  people,  though  for  what  reason  we  are  at  a loss 
to  surmise,  unless  it  be  that  many  foolish,  ignorant, 
and  dogmatic  creeds  have  been  forced  upon  the  world, 


432 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


but  such  dogmatic  compilations  are,  in  many  instances, 
properly  speaking,  not  creeds  at  all.  The  word  creed  is 
derived  from  the  Latin  credo  (I  believe).  Therefore, 
out  of  the  three  great  creeds  of  Christendom,  two  only 
are,  properly  speaking,  creeds  ; the  third  is  not  rightly  a 
creed,  but  a dogmatic  ecclesiastical  manifesto.  The 
Apostles’  Creed  begins  with  believe,”  so  does  the 
Nicene  Creed,  but  the  Athanasian  Creed  begins  with, 
^^Quicunque  etc.  Whosoever  will  be  saved,  be- 

fore all  things  it  is  necessary  that  he  hold  the  Catholic 
faith,  which  faith,  except  every  one  do  keep  whole  and 
undefiled,  without  doubt  he  shall  perish  everlastingly.” 
That  awful  declaration  is,  however,  inconsistently  modi- 
fied before  we  reach  the  end  of  the  creed,”  as  a con- 
cluding clause  reads  : They  who  have  done  good  shall 
go  into  life  everlasting.”  So  Colonel  Ingersoll  is  not 
excluded  from  eternal  happiness,  even  on  the  showing 
of  the  pretended  creed  of  Athanasius,  who,  by  the  way, 
if  history  does  not  lie,  was  not  its  author  or  compiler. 
The  three  creeds  held  alike  by  the  Roman,  Greek,  and 
Anglican  divisions  of  the  Christian  hierarchy  show  us 
how  primitive  simplicity  and  becoming  modesty  and 
charity  were  banished  as  soon  as  imperialism  took  root  in 
Christian  minds  and  countries.  The  first  creed  (the 
Apostles’)  is  a simple  exposition  of  evangelical  Chris-,, 
tianity  in  terse  and  lucid  sentences  ; the  Nicene  Creed  is 
a more  elaborate  and  verbose  exposition  of  the  same 
doctrine,  but  both  these  creeds  are  so  written  as  to  chal- 
lenge no  opposition.  The  right  of  freedom  of  speech 
would  be  arraigned  should  we  question  any  one’s  right 
to  express  publicly,  if  he  wishes,  his  religious  convic- 


LECTURE  XX. 


433 


tions.  The  Athanasian  Creed  is  not  properly  reprehen- 
sible because  of  its  mysterious  doctrine  of  a trinity  con- 
sisting of  three  persons  in  the  Godhead,  but  solely  on 
account  of  the  presumptuous  blasphemy  which  makes 
any  man,  or  body  of  men,  dare  to  condemn  their  fellow 
beings  to  everlasting  damnation,  unless  they  agree  with 
them  in  accepting  incomprehensible  notions  regarding 
the  nature  of  the  Supreme  Being. 

Colonel  Ingersoll  in  reply  to  the  savage  and  purblind 
criticisms  and  denunciations  of  Dr.  Talmage,  the  em- 
inent pulpit  sensationalist  of  Brooklyn  Tabernacle,  has 
favored  the  public  with  a statement  of  what  he  does  be- 
lieve. He  has  told  us  for  so  long  so  much  about  what 
he  does  not  believe  that  we  are  truly  delighted  with  an 
affirmative  statement  from  his  ready  pen  and  eloquent 
tongue.  His  creed  is  a worthy  and  a liberal  one ; he 
does  not  seek  to  bind  it  as  a chain  about  the  neck  of  his 
brethren ; he  is  content  to  hold  and  proclaim  it  as  his 
own  honest  belief  and  conviction,  and  in  so  doing  chal- 
lenges the  thoughtful  and  respectful  attention  of  the 
entire  thinking  community. 

Let  us  take  a moment’s  glance  at  the  man  before  we 
analyze  his  creed.  Men  and  their  creeds  always  bear  a 
family  resemblance.  A contracted  creed  could  never 
have  been  drawn  up  by  a broad,  liberal  man.  A nar- 
row mind  could  never  have  devised  such  a creed  as 
Ingersoll’s.  Ingersoll,  both  mentally  and  physically,  is 
an  instructive  as  well  as  an  interesting  subject  for 
study ; his  is  a large,  genial,  breezy  nature.  He  carries 
with  him  the  breadth  of  the  prairies,  and  is,  in  many 
respects,  a good  typical  American.  His  intellect  is 


434 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


great,  but  not  fully  developed,  neither  is  it  highly  pol- 
ished. His  personal  appearance  is  attractive,  strong, 
manly,  fatherly,  social,  and  withal  gentle ; for,  strange 
as  it  may  seem,  the  author  of  Mistakes  of  Moses,”  and 
other  literary  firebrands  and  bombshells,  is  in  every  sense 
a gentle  and  affectionate  man  in  his  friendly  and  domes- 
tic relations.  As  a father,  a husband,  and  a citizen  he  is 
irreproachable,  and  as  a lawyer  he  is  a conscientious  ad- 
vocate of  liberty.  As  a lecturer  he  is  a ruthless  icono- 
clast in  nine  instances  out  of  every  ten,  but  every  once 
in  a while  his  tones  are  tender,  melting,  pathetic ; and 
when  they  are  so,  he  moves  his  audience  — not  only  to 
mingled  applause  and  tears  by  his  burning  eloquence, 
but  by  the  profundity  and  moral  aptitude  of  his  con- 
structive reasoning.  As  a destroyer  of  the  world’s  faith 
we  have  often  had  passages  at  arms  with  Iiigersoll,  but 
when  he  undertakes  to  build  we  can  only  watch  with 
unqualified  admiration  the  skill  and  deftness  of  his 
work. 

Article  1 in  his  creed  reads : ‘‘  Happiness  is  the  only 
good,”  — as  sweeping  an  assertion  as  it  is  possible  for 
any  one  to  make,  and  one,  moreover,  to  which  exception 
might  readily  be  taken,  but  we  have  no  desire  to  cavil 
or  disagree  ; we  prefer  to  look  deeply  into  this  sentence 
and  see  if  we  cannot  discover  in  it  a perfect  epitome  of 
sound  philosophy. 

That  happiness  is  the  supreme  object  of  human 
search  is  seif-evident,  for  the  most  religious,  even  when 
they  profess  to  disregard  earthly  happiness,  seek  hap- 
piness in  heaven  which  they  believe  will  be  of  eternal 
duration;  while  the  most  unselfish,  who  seem  not  to 


435 


LECTURE  XX. 

seek  their  own  individual  enjoyment,  devise  all  their 
schemes  of  benevolence  with  a view  to  securing  the 
happiness  of  others.  Thus  happiness  is  clearly  the  uni- 
versal good  desired ; whether  we  seek  our  own  or  that 
of  others  is  the  criterion  of  our  selfishness  or  our 
philanthropy.  If  it  is  natural  to  man  to  seek  hap- 
piness as  the  supreme  goal  of  all  his  effort,  may  we 
not  safely  conclude  that  we  are  constituted  by  an  in- 
finitely happy  God  whose  good  pleasure  it  is  that  all 
should  seek  and  find  happiness  that  will  endure  for- 
ever. This  thought  certainly  discords  with  Calvinistic 
orthodoxy,  but  harmonizes  with  all  liberal  thought  and 
spiritual  philosophy. 

Article  2 in  Ingersoll’s  creed  reads : The  way  to  be 
happy  is  to  make  others  happy.  Other  things  being 
equal,  that  man  is  the  happiest  who  is  the  nearest  just  — 
who  is  truthful,  merciful,  and  intelligent  — in  other 
words,  the  man  who  lives  in  accordance  with  the  condi- 
tions of  life.”  This  article  being  expository  and  exegeti- 
cal  needs  close  analysis,  and  to  many  minds  some  ampli- 
fication to  render  it  wholly  acceptable  alike  to  the  moral 
sense  and  intellectual  understanding.  Its  morality  is 
unexceptionable.  Who  among  moral  teachers  has  ever 
given  a supremer  place  to  truthfulness  and  mercy  than 
Ingersoll  ? Truth  and  mercy  he  places  even  before  in- 
telligence, thereby  according  with  what  we  perpetually 
insist  upon,  viz.,  that  moral  training  is  even  more  im- 
portant than  mental  culture,  though  both  are  of  price- 
less value. 

Let  us  briefly  consider  the  nature  and  especial  merits 
of  the  three  excellences  to  which  Ingersoll  gives  the  most 


436 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


conspicuous  place  in  his  code  of  ethics,  in  fact  the  only 
three  he  mentions  in  his  creed  as  necessary  to  a just  ” 
man,  one  who,  to  use  his  own  words,  ‘‘lives  in  accord- 
ance with  the  conditions  of  life  ” — life  meaning,  of 
course,  something  infinitely  above  mere  vegetative  ex- 
istence, as  simple  bodily  existence  is  maintained  by 
many  who  violate  every  condition  of  life  in  its  highest 
meaning.  Now  what  is  it  to  be  truthful,  merciful,  and 
intelligent?  We  should  reply,  it  is  to  be  just,  loving, 
and  wise.  Truth  must  ever  stand  foremost  among  the 
virtues.  We  must  be  true  to  ourselves  and  true  to 
humanity  if  we  would  make  our  lives  peaceful,  useful, 
and  harmonious.  What  is  truth  ? is  a question  we  all 
need  to  ask  of  that  inward  monitor  we  agree  in  calling 
conscience ; we  have  all  a moral  sense,  a perception  of 
right,  and  this  inward  perception  or  intuitive  conviction 
never  leads  us  astray.  It  may  apparently  differ  in 
measure,  but  never  in  kind  with  different  individuals. 
All  may  know  a certain  amount  of  truth,  though  all  may 
not  know  equally  much  of  truth.  To  be  true  is  to  be 
loyal  to  one’s  highest  convictions  of  right  and  duty,  and 
though  perfection  be  not  possible  in  all  instances,  per- 
fect truthfulness  of  intent  is  the  characterizing  mark  of 
every  noble  man  and  woman. 

The  idea  of  unlimited  progress  does  not  conflict  in 
any  sense  with  the  highest  standard  of  relative  truth- 
fulness held  up  by  an  individual  conscience  as  the 
guide  of  personal  conduct.  Truth  demands  that  we 
should  follow  its  lead  instantly  and  unhesitatingly  in 
all  cases ; ix,  we  must  never  dally  with  convictions ; 
never  toy  with  conscientious  scruples ; never  resort  to 


LECTURE  XX. 


437 


the  sophistry  of  self-excuse ; but  act  immediately  with- 
out reluctance  in  accordance  with  our  highest  concep- 
tion of  right. 

Truth  is  infinite  and  we  are  finite;  thus  there  is 
always  an  infinite  ocean  of  truth  unbounded,  unexplored 
by  us.  In  mathematical  studies,  problem  after  problem 
presents  itself  for  solution,  each  one  more  difficult  than 
its  predecessor ; we  may  be  utterly  unable  as  yet  to 
solve  the  more  abstruse  of  the  problems  we  have  en- 
countered, but  those  which  are  less  difficult  wo  can 
solve  readily  if  we  will  only  faithfully  apply  the  rule ; 
the  more  difficult  ones  we  shall  be  able  to  grapple  with 
by  and  by,  if  we  are  only  faithful  and  diligent  in  our 
studies.  There  is  no  road  to  our  ever  mastering  obsta- 
cles now  apparently  insuperable  other  than  the  plain 
direct  path  of  conscientious,  unflagging  devotion  to 
duty.  Much  truth  is  as  yet  veiled  from  us  in  dim 
obscurity,  but  our  eyes  grow  stronger  as  we  rightly 
use  them,  and  every  effort  to  follow  the  guidance  of 
truth  prepares  us  for  deeper  research  into  its  mysteries. 
What  then  is  our  practical  duty  in  daily  life  ? Should 
we  always  speak  the  truth?  Yes,  except  when  it  is  our 
duty  to  remain  silent. 

A criminal  is  not  required  by  the  civil  law  to  crimi- 
nate himself  in  court,  but  he  is  most  assuredly  bound 
by  the  most  sacred  moral  obligation  never  to  utter  a 
falsehood  in  self-defense.  There  are  indeed  times  when 
we  should  keep  silence,  as  well  as  times  when  we  should 
speak,  but  no  time  ever  occurs  when  it  is  permissible 
to  tell  a lie,  no,  nor  even  to  act  one.  But  some  may 
object.  Is  it  not  our  duty  to  shield  our  fellow-beings  ? 


438 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHYo 


Are  there  not  often  extenuating  circumstances  which 
should  be  duly  considered?  are  not  your  too  rigid 
moralists  apt  to  err  on  the  side  of  severity,  and  in  over- 
looking clemency  discard  one  of  the  sweetest  of  graces 
and  most  noble  of  virtues?  We  answer  unhesitatingly, 
whenever  such  inquiries  are  raised,  ends  never  justify 
means  which  are  not  in  themselves  good.  What  is 
commonly  called  the  Jesuitical  policy  is  a dastardly 
one,  and  one  moreover  which  must  ultimately  prove 
fatal  to  the  welfare  of  all  who  adopt  it.  In  that  pathetic 
drama,  ^‘The  Two  Orphans,”  which  the  public  are  never 
tired  of  witnessing,  a fatally  weak  spot  mars  the  moral 
beauty  of  the  character  of  a Sister  of  Charity,  who  is 
in  every  respect  the  embodiment  of  mercy.  She  finds 
herself  in  a terribly  trying  situation ; a child  she  loves 
dearly,  one  who  leans  on  her  as  upon  a tender  mother, 
is  in  cruel  danger  and  deep  distress,  and  to  save  the 
poor  blind  maiden  whose  heart  is  breaking  at  the  thought 
of  an  impending  catastrophe,  she  resorts  to  a falsehood, 
a simple  white  lie,”  to  frustrate  the  evil  designs  of  an 
unscrupulous  adversary.  Was  such  a falsehood  wicked  ? 
It  was  assuredly  weak,  as  no  one  can  condescend  to 
employ  deception  as  a weapon  of  defense  if  he  trusts 
implicitly  in  the  almightiness  of  truth. 

How  few  of  us,  alas ! have  that  perfect  faith  in  truth 
which  would  enable  us  to  remove  every  mountain  of 
error  out  of  our  path  if  we  only  possessed  it.  Lacking 
this  supreme  trust  in  truth,  we  weakly  yield  to  decep- 
tion with  what  we  fondly  call  the  best  motive  possible. 
Our  intent  may  be  good,  but  our  policy  is  virtually 
suicidal.  Tell  the  truth  or  preserve  silence  is  a motto 


LECTUEE  XX. 


439 


we  should  do  well  to  hang  up  in  a conspicuous  place  in 
all  our  schools,  homes,  and  places  of  business. 

A mistake  can  never  be  a lie,  an  unintentional  mis- 
statement has  in  it  none  of  the  characteristics,  and 
possesses  none  of  the  attributes  of  mendacity.  We  may 
often  ignorantly  and  quite  innocently  err  in  judgment, 
and  thus  unknowingly  mislead  ourselves  and  others. 
Such  error  is  perfectly  excusable  on  the  ground  that  we 
are  not  omniscient.  Falsehood,  to  partake  of  deliberate 
and  intentional  opposition  to  truth,  must  be  freighted 
with  the  intention  to  deceive.  Of  course  falsehood  is 
encountered  in  various  shades  of  criminality ; its  very 
mildest  form  is  that  in  which  we  employ  it  as  a cloak 
to  save  our  neighbors  from  distress : in  its  worst  degree 
it  is  the  result  of  deliberate  intention  to  wrong  another. 
The  three  forms  of  lying  most  common  may  be  described 
as  the  lie  of  timidity,  the  lie  of  selfishness,  and  the  lie  of 
malice.  The  first  is  of  course  more  of  a weakness  than  a 
sin,  even  though  the  element  of  sinfulness  is  not  absent 
from  it.  The  second  is  very  popular,  indeed  awfully 
prevalent,  and  the  source  of  untold  misery.  The  third 
is  the  most  despicable  and  fiendish  thing  imaginable  on 
earth,  and  can  never  proceed  from  the  lips  of  any  but 
depraved  persons. 

To  be  always  truthful  one  needs  a large  stock  of 
courage,  and  for  ourselves  we  can  scarcely  see  how  any 
one  can  have  the  requisite  amount  of  confidence  in 
truth  to  be  always  true  unless  he  has  confidence  in  a 
Supreme  Universal  Being  who  is  infinitely  true,  and 
the  author  and  inspirer  of  the  law  of  the  universe ; One 
whose  infinite  veracity  insures  the  triumph  of  truth 


440 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


and  the  defeat  of  falsehood  in  accordance  with  the  very 
nature  and  constitution  of  universal  moral  government. 

Ingersoll  is  not  an  avowed  Theist,  but  so  far  as 
we  understand  him  he  has  no  prejudice  against  pure 
Theism.  The  evidences  of  the  being  of  God  are,  in 
his  opinion,  not  strong  enough  to  justify  his  saying, 
I believe  in  God.”  But  surely,  no  man  could  place 
truthfulness  in  the  place  of  highest  honor,  to  which 
Ingersoll  assigns  it,  were  he  not  morally  in  harmony 
with  the  most  exalted  Theism.  His  intellect  wavers 
between  God  and  no  God,  but  his  innermost  sentiments 
and  noblest  aspirations  are  all  pre-eminently  theistic, 
as  they  are  also  altruistic.  Next  to  truth,  Ingersoll 
places  mercy,  and  we  must  remember  he  is  defining  a 
just  man’s  character,  so  we  take  it  for  granted  he  means 
by  mercy  that  beautiful  and  regal  attribute  of  divinity 
which  always  was,  and  ever  will  be,  the  spouse  of  per- 
fect equity. 

Let  us  consider  briefly  the  relation  of  justice  to  mercy 
in  divine  beneficence,  and  what  lends  added  importance 
to  this  theme  is  that  the  doctrine  of  vicarious  atonement 
is  considered  a very  vital  point  in  Christian  orthodoxy. 
Our  readers,  doubtless,  are  all  far  too  familiar  with  the 
orthodox  theory  of  redemption  to  necessitate  our  re- 
hearsing it.  It  is,  in  fine,  a wonderfully  constructed 
edifice  built  upon  the  treacherous  sand  of  misconcep- 
tion with  regard  to  the  relation  of  divine  attributes, 
one  toward  the  other.  God  the  Father  represents 
justice ; God  the  Son  mercy ; and  these  two  persons  in 
the  trinity  have  positively  to  become  at  variance  with 
each  other  (at  least  in  appearance)  that  justice  and 


LECTURE  XX. 


441 


mercy  may  both  be  satisfied  ere  man  can  be  redeemed 
from  endless  misery. 

The  wretchedly  blind  sophistry  to  which  this  baseless 
assumption  has  given  birth  needs  only  to  be  examined 
to  be  instantly  refuted  as  a libel  on  the  very  nature  of 
Deity  and  the  constitution  of  the  universe.  All  who 
have  attended  strictly  orthodox  Christian  churches  and 
heard  old-fashioned  Calvinistic  sermons  and  Sunday- 
school  lessons  must  have  felt  their  young  minds  rebel 
against  the  monstrous  inhumanity  of  a schoolmaster 
who  would  punish  an  innocent  boy  and  let  a guilty  one 
go  free : yet  this  most  immoral  illustration  of  God’s 
way  of  saving  sinners  was  quite  common  not  so  many 
years  ago,  and  we  are  not  sure  it  has  yet  fallen  into 
entire  disuse.  The  great  importance  of  discussing  such 
a subject  as  this,  is  that  it  most  nearly  affects  our  con- 
duct one  towards  another,  and  has  a most  direct  and 
decided  bearing  on  the  treatment  of  offenders  by  the 
civil  authority. 

Now  mercy  and  justice  never  had  a quarrel;  their 
interests  were  never  separate.  There  never  could  be  a 
time  when  justice  clamored  for  revenge  and  mercy 
pleaded  against  it,  for  vengeance  and  justice  are  antip- 
odal both  in  nature  and  in  interest,  as  well  as  in  effect. 

‘‘  Retribution  is  mine,  and  I will  repay,  saith  the  Eter- 
nal,” is  an  excellent  and  morally  elevating  Scripture 
text,  but  the  substitution  of  the  word  vengeance  ” for 
“ retribution  ” in  familiar  translations,  utterly  beclouds 
and  spoils  the  moral  teaching  of  the  original.  A radical 
reform  is  needed  wherever  the  word  vengeance  ” is 
used  in  connection  with  anything  just  and  wise,  and 


442 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


for  any  theologian  to  talk  of  divine  justice  and  wisdom 
(to  say  nothing  of  love)  and  then  speak  of  divine  ven- 
geance, is  for  him  to  be  guilty  of  a contradiction  in 
terms,  as  well  as  to  become  the  exponent  of  a highly 
mischievous  as  well  as  utterly  false  philosophy. 

Shakespeare  shows  how  utterly  impossible  it  is  for  a 
man  to  be  just  when  he  seeks  revenge.  Shylock  asks 
the  pound  of  flesh  which  is  legally  his  due  ; but  he  can- 
not obtain  it  without  the  shedding  of  blood,  and  the  law 
does  not  permit  him  to  shed  a single  drop  of  blood ; con- 
sequently he  must  forego  his  claim,  based  on  the  theory 
of  retaliation.  Not  until  mercy  illuminates  the  page 
can  the  moral  law  be  beheld  or  executed. 

We  have  elsewhere  expressed  our  detestation  of  capi- 
tal punishment,  and  urged  the  recognition  of  two  only 
justifiable  reasons  for  inflicting  penalties  upon  offenders, 
viz.,  their  own  reformation  and  the  protection  of  society ; 
now  we  will  utter  a word  of  protest  not  only  against 
dungeon  cells,  transportation  for  life,  and  other  cruel 
atrocities  repugnant  to  the  moral  feeling  of  every  humane 
individual,  but  also  against  that  harsh  government  of 
children,  and  inmates  of  public  institutions,  which  dis- 
cords so  entirely  with  all  intelligent  and  merciful  ideas 
of  divine  and  human  justice.  We  must  be  merciful  in 
order  to  be  just,  so  says  Ingersoll  and  so  say  we. 

Supposing  a child  tells  you  a lie,  and  you  have  every 
reason  to  believe  the  lie  deliberate  and  premeditated, 
you  feel  it  to  be  your  duty  to  correct  your  offspring  for 
the  two  great  reasons  aforesaid.  If  a child  is  allowed 
to  lie  with  impunity,  the  habit  grows  upon  him,  and  it 
is  alike  unjust  and  unkind  to  permit  one  entrusted  to 


LECTURE  XX. 


443 


your  charge  to  contract  and  develop  destructive  habits 
without  doing  all  in  your  power  to  break  him  of  such 
habits  for  his  own  good.  Then  it  is  a greater  injustice 
to  society  to  let  an  unrestrained  falsifier  loose  upon  the 
world  than  not  to  keep  a child  away  from  school  when 
suffering  from  an  infectious  disorder.  Clearly  it  is  our 
duty  to  do  our  utmost  to  eradicate  the  love  of  falsehood 
from  the  minds  of  our  sons  and  daughters  and  thereby 
prevent  a repetition  of  an  offense  against  society. 

The  question  now  arises.  How  shall  the  reproof  be 
administered,  and  what  shall  be  its  nature  ? Severe  pun- 
ishment of  an  unreasonable  kind ; reproofs  administered 
in  anger  though  reasonable  to  some  extent  when  calmly 
given,  tend  to  intimidate  the  nervous,  in  whom  they  fos- 
ter deception,  but  in  no  case  do  they  appeal  to  the  moral 
nature.  They  are  utterly  powerless  to  arouse  any  noble 
ambition.  A child  whose  ears  are  often  boxed,  whose 
head  is  struck,  who  is  shut  up  in  a dark  room  and  kept 
on  bread  and  water  till  he  for  policy’s  sake  offers  a sullen 
or  tearful  apology  to  the  parent  who  has  maltreated  or 
incarcerated  him,  has  usually  been  meditating  on  the 
pleasure  of  doing  wrong,  and  the  unpleasantness  of  being 
found  out  during  his  term  of  correction.”  To  such  a 
child,  a lie  becomes  more  than  ever  fascinating,  and  hence- 
forth his  energies  are  devoted  to  devising  means  for 
more  artful  lying.  Thus  it  is  not  wrong  to  tell  a lie,  in 
such  a child’s  estimation,  but  it  is  a great  misfortune  to 
be  discovered.  By  inference,  therefore,  it  is  something 
to  be  proud  of,  something  to  boast  of  among  school- 
fellows and  playmates  who  are  taken  into  a disgraceful 
confidence,  when  one  has  been  artful  enough  to  do  a 


444 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


wrong  and  escape  detection.  From  among  children  who 
have  been  treated  to  retaliation ; from  the  ranks  of  those 
who  have  been  severely  punished  by  strict  disciplinarians 
who  were  lacking  in  the  higher  moral  perceptions,  in- 
numerable recruits  are  always  found  to  swell  the  ranks 
of  the  army  of  criminals  we  see  marching  through  our 
streets  to  dock  and  dungeon,  often,  alas  ! to  the  hideous 
gallows,  or  yet  more  frightful  block. 

The  greatest  blessing  conferred  upon  humanity  to-day 
by  professed  metaphysical  teachers  and  healers,  accrues 
from  the  stress  they  lay  upon  the  inherent  goodness  of 
human  nature.  While  no  justice-loving  person  can  gloss 
over  iniquity  and  excuse  malpractice,  the  enlightened 
lover  of  justice  is  equally  a lover  of  mercy,  and  finds  it 
possible  to  be  just  while  merciful,  and  merciful  while 
just. 

Colonel  Ingersoll,  after  having  sung  the  praises  of 
truthfulness  and  mercy,  introduces  intelligence  for  our 
acceptance,  and  in  doing  so,  he  places  intellectual  devel- 
opment in  its  proper  place  after  moral  culture.  When  we 
are  disposed  toward  truth  and  mercy,  the  more  we  know, 
and  the  more  power  there  is  placed  in  our  hands,  the 
better  for  society.  Secular  training  is  a priceless  boon. 
The  common  schools  are  among  the  grandest  institutions 
of  America,  but  it  needs  no  prophet  to  foretell  that  with- 
out an  appeal  to  the  deepest  moral  sentiments  of  youth 
mere  intellectual  development  is  worse  than  vain.  Knowl- 
edge is  always  power,  but  power  placed  in  unscrupulous 
hands  is  a source  of  danger  and  terror  to  a community. 
Intelligence  in  its  highest  and  fullest  sense  includes 
moral  enlightenment,  and  standing  in  juxtaposition  to 


LECTUEE  XX. 


445 


truth  and  mercy  in  the  creed  of  Ingersoll,  it  can  mean 
no  less  to  him. 

If  we  are  intelligent  enough  to  know  how  to  deal 
wisely  with  the  evils  threatening  the  nation,  if  we  know 
enough  to  act  effectively  in  a moment  of  danger  so  as 
to  end  a panic  or  prevent  one,  we  have  added  to  our 
faith  knowledge,  or  in  other  words,  our  goodness  of 
heart  is  supplemented  and  assisted  by  clearness  of  head. 
Simple  good  nature  often  leads  to  weak  indulgence,  and 
fosters  many  a vice  the  kind-hearted  are  eager  to  re- 
press, but  know  not  how  to  do  it.  Many  tender-hearted 
people  shrink  from  the  thought  of  inflicting  the  slight- 
est suffering  on  any  sentient  creature,  and  they  are  in- 
deed noble  and  wise,  as  well  as  loving,  when  they  refuse 
to  inflict  the  slightest  pain  on  any  sentient  thing  for 
their  own  personal  welfare  ; but  when  it  comes  to  spar- 
ing the  rod  and  spoiling  the  child,  it  is  as  though  one 
were  to  advocate  letting  all  prisoners,  lunatics,  and  fever 
patients  loose  upon  the  streets.  Prisons,  reformatories, 
hospitals,  asylums,  etc.,  should  be  and  will  be,  when 
properly  conducted,  no  more  dreadful  than , well-ap- 
pointed schools  and  workshops.  Those  placed  under 
surveillance  will  be  those  who  have  proved  themselves 
incompetent  to  govern  themselves.  No  fixed  term  of 
imprisonment  will  constitute  their  sentence : the  crim- 
inal will  go  to  prison  to  be  cured  of  a moral  malady, 
as  a lunatic  is  sent  to  an  asylum  to  be  cured  of  insanity, 
and  a physically  diseased  person  to  a hospital  to  be 
restored  to  soundness  of  physique.  Why  should  moral 
maladies  be  treated  differently  from  physical  and  men- 
tal aberrations  ? Mercy  and  justice  are  a unit  in  all  in- 


446 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


stances,  when  both  are  rightly  understood.  Mercy  says, 
Be  kind  to  the  offender;  Justice  asks.  Would  you  not 
also  be  considerate  for  the  general  weal  ? Mercy  replies, 
I cannot  favor  one  at  the  expense  of  others  any  more 
than  you  can.  Justice  then  passes  a sentence  favorable 
to  mercy.  Mercy  speaks  in  tones  of  justice,  and  the 
two  ever  harmonious  ones  who  dwell  eternally  together 
in  the  bosom  of  infinitude  never  need  to  be  reconciled, 
for  they  never  disagree ; thus  you  may  recommend  a 
criminal  from  undue  severity  to  mercy,  or  from  justice 
to  blind  soft-heartedness,  but  a just  decree  is  never  an 
unmerciful  one,  as  a merciful  one  can  never  be  unjust. 

To  revert  to  the  old  Calvinistic  idea  of  substitution, 
as  instanced  by  the  schoolboys  already  mentioned,  we 
must  inquire  why  should  the  teacher  ever  punish  at  all. 
All  legal  prattle  concerning  the  dignity  of  law  and  the 
honor  of  the  school  is  just  so  much  antiquated  miscon- 
ception of  the  true  nature  of  the  case.  Human  laws  are 
changing,  and  immediately  they  are  found  to  conflict 
with  human  interests,  need  to  be  repealed.  Law  is  only 
an  expression  of  mind.  If  the  intelligence  of  a republic 
improves,  the  laws  necessarily  improve.  Divine  Law  is 
of  course  immutable,  and  therefore  perfect,  and  so  can- 
not be  fairly  compared  with  the  code  of  any  school  or 
state  on  earth  subject  to  change  of  discipline. 

The  proper  reason  for  punishing  ” a child  or  adult  is 
to  reform,  teach,  and  elevate  him.  The  nature  of  the 
penalty  is  evil  if  it  does  not  accomplish  these  ends.  It 
should  never  be  enforced  to  sustain  the  dignity  of  an 
institution  any  more  than  an  operation  should  be  per- 
formed to  sustain  the  dignity  of  a surgical  institute. 


LECTURE  XX. 


447 


When  we  see  the  matter  in  its  true  light,  we  shall  re- 
gard punishment  in  the  light  of  a necessary  operation 
performed  solely  in  the  interests  of  an  invalid,  and  also  in 
the  interests  of  all  who  risk  being  affected,  if  a conta- 
gious malady  be  not  repressed  in  a neighbor.  Now,  how 
brutal  and  idiotic  would  the  spectacle  appear  were  a pa- 
tient who  did  not  need  the  service  of  the  surgeon’s  knife 
to  come  forward  and  be  operated  upon  in  the  stead  of 
the  invalid.  If  a friend  thought  the  doctors  were  cru- 
elly butchering  a patient  more  delicate  and  sensitive 
than  himself,  he  might  reasonably  request  to  be  allowed 
to  suffer  in  his  stead,  were  he  imbued  with  the  belief 
that  the  operation  was  an  utterly  unnecessary  manifesta- 
tion of  anger  and  retaliation ; but  when  the  authorities 
pointed  out  to  him  that  the  operation  was  for  his  friend’s 
good,  that  it  appeared  to  them  the  only  way  of  saving 
his  life,  or  at  least  of  preventing  the  spread  of  some 
terrible  disease,  destructive  alike  to  himself  and  others, 
his  friend  would  be  a maniac,  after  he  understood  the 
surgeon’s  motive,  to  offer  himself  as  a substitute,  while 
the  doctors  would  be  brutal  and  foolish  in  the  extreme 
did  they  allow  him  to  suffer  unnecessarily. 

Whenever  we  see  criminals  on  their  way  to  the  reform- 
atories of  the  future,  we  shall  only  feel  for  them  as  we 
feel  for  patients  carried  to  the  hospital.  You  often  hear 
the  remark,  “ Poor  fellow,  I am  very  sorry  for  him,  but 
he  will  be  better  there  than  at  home ; he  is  assured  of 
the  best  doctoring  and  nursing  always  procurable  in  any 
of  our  great  hospitals.” 

No  thought  of  anger  — only  one  of  compassion  — fol- 
lows the  sufferer  to  his  bed  of  pain.  That  illness  or 


448 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


accident  may,  however,  have  been  the  direct  conse- 
quence of  evil  doing.  A drunken  brawl,  a sensual 
excess,  an  angry  blow  may  have  been  the  only  reason 
for  his  prostrate  condition ; still  he  must  be  pitied  and 
cared  for  as  a brother  in  distress.  If  he  has  sinned,  he 
also  suffers.  It  is  not  for  us  to  condemn,  but  to  help 
him  to  health,  virtue,  usefulness,  and  happiness.  No 
one  refuses  to  employ  a man  recently  discharged  from 
a hospital ; why  then  shun  those  who  have  been  let  out 
of  prison  ? When  our  duty  is  truly  done  to  our  offend- 
ing brethren,  no  one  will  be  put  in  prison  but  for  his 
reformation ; no  one  will  be  let  out  until  he  has  proved 
himself  able  to  use  wisely  the  privilege  of  liberty ; no 
one  will  be  kept  within  prison  walls  after  he  has  shown 
himself  morally  strong  enough  to  live  outside  them,  and 
no  one  will  be  turned  adrift  upon  an  unsympathetic 
world  without  means  of  honest  maintenance.  Work 
should  be  found  for  every  released  convict,  as  no  one 
can  reasonably  be  expected  to  live  virtuously  when  no 
opportunity  of  doing  so  is  afforded  him.  We  have  pun- 
ished iniquity  long  enough ; and  punishment  has  not 
availed.  We  must  now  set  to  work  to  stamp  it  out,  to 
literally  destroy  evil,  to  lay  the  ax  of  reform  at  the 
root  of  every  poisonous  tree,  and  root  up  every  weed 
infesting  our  gardens.  The  old  idea  of  punishment  has 
led  people  to  believe  that  the  wicked  will  be  tormented 
forever,  or  else  utterly  destroyed.  The  former  theory 
is  too  terrible  to  retain  its  hold  much  longer  on  any 
portion  of  a thinking  community ; the  latter,  however, 
which  is  much  milder,  but  also  fallacious,  has  gained 
currency,  not  only  among  church  people,  who  have 


LECTUKE  XX. 


449 


revolted  against  the  doctrine  of  perpetual  torment,  but 
also  among  Theosophists  who  have  failed  to  grasp  the 
inner  meanings  of  the  ancient  esoteric  doctrine  they 
study  so  devoutly. 

Religious  ideas  are  practically  momentous,  as  they 
influence  speech  and  conduct.  Thus  we  cannot  part 
with  moral,  spiritual,  or  strictly  speaking,  religious 
culture  in  the  public  schools.  The  difficulty  has  ever 
been  to  distinguish  between  simple  morals  and  religious 
dogmas,  and  we  are  sure  every  advocate  of  sound,  prac- 
tical, ethical  teaching  will  be  thankful  to  Col.  Ingersoll 
for  letting  the  public  see  that  a champion  of  agnosticism, 
a reputed  infidel,  has  some  definite  ideas  of  morality, 
and  prizes  truth,  justice,  and  mercy  as  highly  as  any  Jew 
or  Christian.  We  have  always  advocated  the  complete 
secularization  of  the  state,  but  not  of  the  individual. 
We  have  always  set  our  faces  against  the  non-taxation 
of  church  property,  and  even  against  the  reading  of  the 
Bible  in  the  public  schools.  We  have  even  gone  so  far 
as  to  suggest  the  erasure  of  the  word  G-od  and  the  sub- 
stitution of  such  a word  as  justice,  equity,  or  truth  in 
the  inscription  on  the  American  coinage,  solely  because 
of  the  respect  we  consider  due  to  those  whose  ideas 
upon  religious  matters  differ  from  our  own,  and  differ 
still  more  widely  from  the  beliefs  of  all  who  lay  claim 
to  the  title  "‘orthodox,”  whether  in  Christian  or  Jewish 
circles. 

The  point  'we  are  aiming  at  is  to  distinguish  between 
morality,  pure  and  simple,  and  adherence  to  certain 
religious  ideas  accompanied  by  attendance  upon  places 
of  worship  and  the  study  of  a literature  commonly 


450 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


called  sacred.  Now  it  would  be  suicidal  to  the  inter- 
ests of  the  state  and  to  the  safety  of  the  community  to 
ignore  morals,  and  therefore  tacitly  sanction  immorality. 
We  know  that  a vast  amount  of  evil  takes  its  rise  in  no 
moral  training,  as  well  as  in  advocacy,  or  at  least  tacit 
indorsement,  of  such  views  and  practices  as  undermine 
the  morals  of  the  world.  Ingersoll  is  happily  a thorough 
moralist,  and  doubtless  his  children  receive  from  their 
parents  (the  most  proper  of  all  people  to  convey  it)  the 
soundest  ethical  instruction.  Whether  Ingersoll’s  creed 
goes  far  enough,  in  its  spirit  and  affirmations,  to  com- 
pletely supply  the  necessity  we  all  feel  for  a definite 
declaration,  is  an  open  and  quite  another  question. 
Whatever  may  be  its  lack,  so  far  as  incentive  to  mo- 
rality is  concerned  (and  people  seem  to  be  in  absolute 
need  of  definite  spiritual  revelation),  all  must  admit,  so 
far  as  it  goes  (and  it  really  goes  quite  a long  way)  it 
sanctions  only  virtue,  and  by  clear  inference  distinctly 
reprehends  vice.  No  idea  of  God  is  clearly  an  improve- 
ment upon  a degrading  idea  of  the  Supreme  Being,  and 
for  that  reason  we  welcome  agnosticism  in  preference  to 
a horrible  theology. 

Materialism  is  a relief  from  the  idea  of  infinite  ven- 
geance and  endless  suffering,  but  it  is  clearly  unsatis- 
factory even  to  those  who  advocate  it.  We  have  only 
to  listen  to  their  speeches  and  read  their  publications 
to  be  convinced  that  materialistic  ideas  are  far  too 
barren  and  comfortless  to  support  those  who  advocate 
them  in  their  hours  of  sorrow  ai\d  bereavement.  They 
may  be  brave  with  the  courage  of  stoics,  who  boast  of 
their  perfect  resignation  to  the  inevitable,  but  stoicism 


LECTURE  XX. 


451 


sheds  no  light  and  kindles  no  hope  in  the  human  breast ; 
true  it  offers  no  added  misery  to  the  mourner  by  con> 
juring  up  a hell  of  devouring  flame  into  which  all 
unbelievers  must  be  cast,  but  while  it  does  not  terrify 
us  with  the  orthodox  hell,  it  robs  us  at  the  same  time 
of  every  hope  of  heaven.  Ingersoll  is  always  breaking 
away  from  Materialism.  His  temperament  is  so  san- 
guine he  cannot  but  be  hopeful.  Where  he  cannot 
affirm  he  will  not  deny.  So,  when  in  the  third  article 
of  his  creed,  he  says,  The  time  to  be  happy  is  now, 
and  the  place  to  be  happy  is  here,”  he  does  not  neces- 
sarily deny  immortality  any  more  than  did  a Christian 
apostle  who  said  with  emphasis,  “Now  is  the  accepted 
time;  now  is  the  day  of  salvation.”  Even  Jesus  him- 
self seems  to  have  laid  such  peculiar  stress  on  seizing 
the  moment  as  it  flies,  that  many  people  have  objected 
to  some  of  his  teachings,  because  he  said,  “Be  not 
anxious  for  the  morrow.” 

The  Jewish  Scriptures  say  very  little  about  life  be- 
yond the  grave,  the  reason  for  this  silence  being  the 
intense  desire  of  Moses  and  his  successors  to  keep  the 
minds  of  the  people  so  fixed  on  their  present  duties 
that,  instead  of  living  in  an  anticipated  future,  neglect- 
ing the  now  to  dream  of  a coming  time,  neglecting  the 
here  to  speculate  on  a hereafter  (as  many  people  unfor- 
tunately do  to  their  own  and  others’  detriment)  they 
might  be  prepared  for  all  coming  time  and  all  possible 
happiness  beyond  the  grave,  through  a faithful  and  dili- 
gent preparation  such  as  a noble  life  from  day  to  day 
can  alone  afford.  There  is,  however,  another  side  to 
the  picture,  for  to  many  people  everything  is  in  a 


452 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


motive,  an  ideal.  How  hard  it  is  to  tread  a dreary, 
monotonous  path  uncheered  by  the  assurance  of  a 
brighter  prospect  ahead!  Ingersoll  is  a happy  man, 
jovial,  healthy,  hearty ; in  the  prime  of  a vigorous  man- 
hood, most  agreeably  situated  from  a worldly  point  of 
view.  His  home  is  his  delight ; his  means  are  ample ; 
he  is,  in  a word,  in  truly  affluent  circumstances,  and 
may  well  ask  the  fleeting  hour  to  stay.  Such  a man, 
however  broad  his  sympathies  with  suffering  and  poverty- 
stricken  humanity,  can  never  fully  realize  how  much 
more  necessary  to  the  poor  and  unhappy  are  spiritual 
consolations  than  to  those  in  health,  wealth,  and  pros- 
perity. When  Ingersoll  says,  The  time  to  be  happy 
is  now,  and  the  place  here,”  he  must  know  that  multi- 
tudes have  so  hard  a struggle  to  eke  out  a subsistence, 
and  have  so  many  trials  and  difflculties  to  encounter, 
that  happiness,  for  them,  is  not  so  easily  procurable  as 
for  him  whose  lines  have  fallen  in  pleasant  places,  who 
has  a very  flne  flg-tree  and  well  spreading  vine  to  sit 
under,  to  employ  a familiar  ancient  metaphor.  He  may 
answer  and  so  may  others,  “We  should  think  little  of 
ourselves  and  much  of  others ; we  should  be  happy  in 
making  others  happy  ” ; and  his  answer  would  be  indeed 
true ; his  advice  would  indeed  be  sound ; but  from  the 
days  when  Seneca  put  forth  the  same  thought  — from 
the  time  when  Confucius  proclaimed  it  in  China,  and 
Socrates  in  Greece  — yea,  and  long  before  their  time, 
when  the  earliest  moralists  of  the  world  preached  the 
old  yet  ever  new  gospel  of  doing  all  for  others  — though 
altruism  has  indeed  been  the  noblest  philosophy,  it  has 
gained  much,  and  never  lost  one  iota  of  its  value  by 


LECTURE  XX. 


453 


being  coupled  with  a clear  and  elevating  conception  of 
human  individual  immortality.  As  to  the  ideas  of  end- 
less punishment  and  annihilation  for  the  wicked,  both 
of  which  are  still  promulgated  in  different  sections  of 
the  Christian  church  — we  object  to  the  influence  of 
them  both  upon  society ; for,  while  the  latter  is  far  less 
hideous  and  merciless  than  the  former,  they  both  teach 
the  incorrigibility  of  certain  human  beings.  They  de- 
clare that  men  can  sin  beyond  redemption,  or  the  possi- 
bility of  redemption.  This  error,  expressed  in  legislation, 
supports  capital  punishment,  transportation  and  imprison- 
ment for  life,  and  other  hateful  barbarisms  to  the  over- 
throwing of  which  all  truly  humane  and  enlightened 
persons  are  directing  their  most  zealous  efforts. 

Whatever  opinion  some  of  our  readers  may  have 
formed  of  metaphysics  — however  prejudiced  some  may 
be  against  what  is  commonly  called  Christian  Science, 
all  must  admit  that  the  system  has  one  great  redeeming 
feature,  and  that  is  its  refusal  to  regard  any  one  as  in- 
corrigibly wicked  or  hopelessly  lost.  We,  most  of  us, 
actually  need  a spiritual  impetus,  or  we  falter  on  our 
journey,  and  fail  in  the  accomplishment  of  reformatory 
work.  We  need  to  see  with  the  eye  of  the  spirit  a 
happy  time  and  blessed  place  when  and  where  all  we 
undertake  to  help  will  stand  arrayed  in  the  white  robes 
of  purity,  cleansed  from  all  defilement.  We  need  to 
hear  with  our  spiritual  ears  a song  of  triumph  proceed- 
ing from  the  lips  of  those  who  now  utter  falsehood  and 
curses.  If  we  are  to  strive  to  be  truly  happy,  now  and 
here,  we  venture  to  say  we  cannot  become  thoroughly 
so,  as  a people  (whatever  exceptional  individuals  may 


454 


STUDIES  IK  THEOSOPHY. 


accomplish),  we  cannot  do  our  best,  most  thorough  and 
successful  work  to  raise  our  weaker  brethren,  unless  we 
are  cheered  and  strengthened  in  some  degree  by  a hold 
on  immortality.  If  any  of  us  can  be  just,  true,  merci- 
ful, intelligent,  philanthropic,  useful,  and  happy,  as  Inger- 
soll  would  have  us,  without  any  knowledge  of  the  beyond, 
we  are  highly  privileged  individuals,  and  must  enjoy 
dispositions  of  exceptional  amiability.  For  us  in  that 
case  life  after  seeming  death  will  be  a beautiful  and  most 
welcome  surprise  — perhaps  all  the  more  beautiful  and 
welcome  because  we  did  not  look  forward  to  it;  but 
for  the  majority,  true  Spiritualism,  divested  of  all  ex- 
traneous matter,  free  from  all  belittling  superstitions  and 
follies,  offers  solid  comfort  and  help,  unrivaled  by  all 
other  systems  of  philosophy.  Pure  and  unadulterated 
Spiritualism  teaches  what  Ingersoll  teaches  in  the  first 
three  articles  of  the  noble  creed  we  have  endeavored  to 


review. 


LECTURE  XXI. 


ROBERT  ELSMERE  ; ” OR,  THE  OLD  FETTERS  AND  THE 
NEW  FAITH. 

Among  the  many  valuable  and  interesting  works  now 
before  the  world,  no  one  has  excited  greater  interest 
than  Mrs.  Humphrey  Ward’s  religious  novel  ‘‘Robert 
Elsmere.”  That  it  should  have  created  such  extraor- 
dinary interest  in  America,  may  be  like  the  astounding 
interest  centered  in  Moody’s  preaching;  one  of  the 
psychological  marvels  of  the  day,  and  this  for  two 
reasons : Firsts  the  work  does  not  really  advance  any 
very  strange  or  startling  theory.  Second^  it  is  a story  of 
English  not  American  life,  and  records  the  struggles  of 
a clergyman  of  the  English  church  who  makes  his  way  by 
painful  processes  of  thought  and  action  from  a “living” 
in  a rural  district,  where  he  is  the  rector  of  a compara- 
tively unimportant  parish,  to  the  broad  open  field  of 
unfettered  and  almost  creedless  humanitarian  effort. 
A little  closer  inspection  of  the  details  of  the  story  will 
soon,  however,  convince  even  the  superficial  reader  that 
the  interest  taken  in  the  book  does  not  center  in  any 
reference  to  place  or  period,  or  in  any  character  how- 
ever finely  drawn,  but  in  the  fierce  conflict  between 
orthodox  literalism  and  heterodox  spiritualism  therein 
so  graphically  presented. 


456 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


Mrs.  Ward  is  a vivid  portrait  painter,  her  characters 
are  all  decidedly  drawn,  they  are  all  widely  different 
the  one  from  the  other ; each  is  a study  in  itself  and 
even  the  least  important  have  a fascination  for  any 
reader  who  delights  in  a vivid  portrayal  of  human  in- 
dividuality, whether  he  can  admire  the  type  under  con- 
sideration or  not.  The  book  shows  us  many  characters, 
but  not  too  many,  as  they  never  get  mixed  and  each  is 
essential  to  a perfect  tale,  such  as  the  one  so  graphically 
told  in  680  closely  printed  pages  in  the  full  size  Amer- 
ican paper  edition.  Some  critics  have  of  course  said 
the  story  was  too  long,  unnecessarily  spun  out ; some 
have  complained  that  others  than  the  central  figures 
have  received  too  much  notice ; but  such  criticisms  are 
exceedingly  shallow  and  unfounded,  as  the  real  merit 
of  the  work  is  in  its  completeness,  which  consists  in  its 
elaborate  analysis  of  the  surroundings  of  the  hero,  and 
its  careful  explanation  of  the  varied  influences  which 
shaped  his  thought  and  determined  his  conduct.  Rob- 
ert Elsmere  is  not  an  ordinary  man,  though  educated 
in  an  ordinary  way,  so  far  as  outward  appearances  go. 
His  mother  was  by  no  means  an  ordinary  woman,  and 
without  the  careful  description  of  her  character  and 
influence  over  her  son  in  the  opening  chapters,  one  of 
the  most  essential  factors  in  Robert’s  education  would 
have  been  left  out. 

Robert,  as  a boy,  predicts  his  own  future,  and  to  any 
careful  and  experienced  student  of  mental  tendencies, 
his  early  days  led  by  a perfectly  natural  course  to  his 
subsequent  career.  Robert  Elsmere  is  from  the  first 
a free  spirit,  impatient  of  all  restraint,  liis  bodily  frame 


LECTUKE  XXI. 


457 


is  weak,  his  mind  ardent,  his  feeling  intense  ; his  mother 
is  an  excitable,  singular  woman,  very  industrious,  self- 
centered,  unselfish,  nervous,  and  self-opinionated  with- 
out being  in  the  least  self-conceited.  She  and  her  son 
are  everything  to  each  other,  they  have  no  secrets 
from  each  other ; she  is  both  playmate  and  teacher ; an 
Irishwoman  of  a very  noble  type,  she  combines  an 
indomitable  love  of  personal  liberty  with  an  intense 
regard  for  the  rights  of  everybody  else.  Anything  like 
meretricious  display  is  odious  to  her ; ritualistic  curates, 
whom  she  suspects  of  being  only  half  sincere  are  her 
pet  abomination,  and  though  her  son  seems  destined  to 
become  a clergyman,  and  she  is  a deeply  religious 
woman,  she  cannot  but  make  special  fun  over  the 
eccentricities  of  the  clerical  profession ; for  to  her  the 
ministry  of  religion  must  be  a life,  not  a trade;  and 
where  the  minister  of  the  gospel  is  only  a tradesman, 
selling  his  wares,  she  despises  the  man  while  she  loves 
the  gospel  he  dishonors.  Robert  goes  to  Oxford  at  the 
usual  age,  accompanied  by  his  mother,  and  there  in  the 
very  midst  of  ecclesiastical  supremacy  and  literary  con- 
servatism he  makes  friends  with  two  learned  men,  both 
professors  in  the  University,  neither  of  whom  are  in  the 
slightest  degree  orthodox  in  sentiment  or  proclivity. 
One  of  these,  Henry  Grey,  is  a practical  heroic  saint, 
in  the  guise  of  a religious  rationalist ; the  other,  Edward 
Langham,  is  a dilettant  man  of  letters,  whose  temper  is 
as  melancholy  as  Grey’s  is  energetic,  and  whose  philoso- 
phy is  as  depressing  as  Grey’s  is  bracing.  In  the  exe- 
cution of  the  portraits  of  these  two  men,  the  authoress 
displays  consummate  genius ; she  brings  into  the  most 


458 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


striking  relief  two  directly  opposite  types  of  so-called 
liberals  with  which  we  are  all  apt  to  become  familiar. 
Both  are  rationalists  in  the  usual  acceptance  of  that 
word,  but  one  acts  and  thinks  as  though  everything  in 
life  were  worthy  of  the  loftiest  endeavor,  while  the 
other  concludes  that  nothing  is  really  worth  the  effort 
required  to  accomplish  it  even  decently. 

Grey’s  mind  is  constantly  expanding,  Langham’s  per- 
petually dwindling;  and  between  these  diametrically 
opposite  poles  of  radicalism  at  Oxford  the  young  student 
for  the  ministry  of  the  established  church  of  England 
finds  himself  placed.  He  passes  through  his  studies, 
however,  without  realizing  that  there  is  anything  in  the 
creeds  and  articles  of  the  church  to  which  he  cannot 
conscientiously  subscribe ; he  takes  orders  and  accepts 
a living  without  any  conscientious  scruples,  though  the 
fact  is  never  disguised  that  his  physical  weakness  con- 
siderably influences  his  settlement  at  length,  in  a quiet 
country  district.  Had  he  been  physically  stronger,  he 
would  have  sought  active  work  in  London  or  some 
great  manufacturing  city,  where  he  could  have  strained 
every  nerve  to  meet  the  requirements  of  a large  and 
needy  parish ; he  is  therefore,  at  the  very  outset  of  his 
ministerial  career,  crippled  by  bodily  weakness,  and 
with  a most  vigorous  mind  and  ardent  spirit  has  seem- 
ingly to  yield  to  the  dictates  of  weak  flesh  or  break 
down  before  his  work  has  even  fairly  commenced. 

Before  entering  upon  the  living  in  Surrey  which  is  in 
the  gift  of  a peer  of  the  realm,  a relative  of  Elsmere’s, 
he  travels  in  many  countries,  always  accompanied  by 
his  mother,  and  then  visits  Westmoreland,  where  he  is 


LECTUliE  XXI. 


459 


introduced,  in  the  performance  of  his  clerical  duties 
as  a curate  there,  to  the  Leyburn  family  from  which  he 
selects  the  eldest  daughter,  Catherine,  to  be  his  wife.  At 
that  period  of  his  early  manhood,  at  the  outset  of  his 
career  as  a clergyman,  just  when  he  is  most  intensely 
impressionable  in  all  directions,  he  finds  in  a woman 
whom  he  compares  to  St.  Elizabeth,  one  whom  he  feels 
maybe  indeed  his  ‘‘twin  soul,”  she  of  all  others  who 
can  share  his  work  with  him  and  make  him  all  he  is 
capable  of  becoming,  while  apart  from  her  he  feels  him- 
self utterly  at  the  mercy  of  influences  and  temptations, 
of  the  strength  and  subtlety  of  which  he  can  form  no 
adequate  idea,  but  which  he  instinctively  and  deeply 
feels  would  be  sufficient  to  overwhelm  him,  or  at  least 
disqualify  him  utterly  for  a noble  performance  of  his 
duty,  were  he  left  to  fight  them  singlehanded. 

Catherine  Leyburn  and  Robert  Elsmere  are  extreme 
opposites ; she  is  quiet  in  the  extreme,  he  is  as  turbu- 
lent in  nature  as  she  is  self-contained,  but  her  passivity 
is  in  no  sense  the  quiet  unresisting  temper  of  a character 
not  decided ; in  her  quietness  is  her  strength ; her  mar- 
velous fund  of  reserve  power  forcibly  illustrates  the 
truth  of  the  old  adage,  “ Still  waters  run  deep,”  and 
while  she  can  but  very  rarely  be  brought  to  betray  an 
emotion,  when  her  feelings  are  too  strongly  aroused, 
the  pent-up  tide  of  emotion  in  her  nature  bursts  forth 
all  the  more  impetuously,  and  sways  her  all  the  more 
violently  by  reason  of  the  constant  restraint  to  which 
she  invariably  subjects  all  her  feelings.  Catherine’s 
mother  is  an  utterly  inconsequent  woman,  from  Avhom 
she  seems  to  have  inherited  nothing ; her  father  passed 


460 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


from  earth  in  her  early  youth  (she  is  twenty-six  years 
of  age  when  we  are  first  introduced  to  her)  ; from  him 
she  seems  to  have  inherited  largely,  and  in  her  eyes  he  is 
a saint ; around  his  memory  her  deepest  affections  clus- 
ter, and  her  loyalty  to  all  that  she  conceives  to  have  been 
his  wishes  is  touching  in  the  extreme.  She  rules  her 
mother  tenderly  and  lovingly,  as  though  she  were  the 
mother  and  her  mother  a delicate  child  needing  inces- 
sant care.  Her  two  sisters  she  also  regards  as  entrusted 
to  her  charge,  and  as  they  are  both  her  juniors  by 
several  years,  her  guardianship  of  them  seems  perfectly 
natural ; the  elder  of  the  two  seems  an  easy,  graceful 
girl  of  no  very  marked  proclivities,  but  Rose,  the 
youngest  member  of  the  family,  is  a very  decided 
character,  passionately  devoted  to  the  violin,  which  she 
plays  superbly.  Possessed  with  an  indomitable  Avill 
and  an  irrepressible  desire  for  freedom,  her  spirit  natu- 
rally rebels  against  the  quiet  domineering  of  her  elder 
sister  whom  she  really  loves,  however,  and  who  decid- 
edly loves  her ; but  the  woman  and  the  girl  do  not 
understand  each  other,  and  they  present  to  our  mind 
one  of  those  vivid  contrasts  Ave  often  meet  in  members 
of  the  same  family,  which  seem  to  forcibly  illustrate 
the  truth  of  the  noAV  Avidely  accepted  theory  that  flesh 
and  blood  relationships  are  not  necessarily  those  of 
spirit. 

Robert  Elsmere  and  Catherine  Leyburn  have  one 
very  great  and  important  point  of  resemblance  which 
forms  a solid  basis  for  their  mutual  attraction ; they  are 
both  extremely  conscientious  ; he  is  diffident  about  pro- 
posing to  her  at  first,  on  account  of  his  deep  sense  of 


LECTURE  XXI. 


461 


his  own  unworthiness ; she  refuses  him  when  he  first 
offers  himself  to  her  (though  she  truly  loves  him),  from 
an  exaggerated  sense  of  duty,  and  of  her  importance  as 
the  guardian  and  director  of  her  mother’s  household. 
When  the  mother  finds  out  the  true  state  of  affairs,  she 
almosts  insists  upon  Catherine  accepting  Robert,  and 
after  tears  and  prayers  and  much  inward  conflict,  she 
consents  to  be  the  wife  of  a man  whom  she  admires  as 
well  as  loves,  and  who  regards  her  more  in  the  light  of 
a divinity  than  of  an  ordinary  woman. 

His  marriage  marks  a very  important  epoch  in  the 
young  clergyman’s  life ; he  goes  to  Surrey,  and  imme- 
diately upon  his  establishment  as  rector  of  Murew^ell,  a 
mere  village  with  a population  chiefly  composed  of  rus- 
tics, he  begins  to  effect  many  decided  improvements  in 
the  condition  of  the  place ; he  and  his  wife  are  all  in  all 
to  each  other,  she  seconds  his  every  enterprise,  enters 
heart  and  soul  into  every  detail  of  his  parish  work,  and 
proves  herself  in  all  things  a woman  of  the  noblest  self- 
denying  effort  and  charity ; benevolence  and  self-forget- 
fulness come  naturally  to  her ; she  has  been  always  ac- 
customed to  do  and  think  for  others.  Among  the  poor, 
the  sick,  the  lonely,  the  erring,  the  outcast,  she  is  a 
ministering  angel  and  it  is  plain  to  see  that  Mrs.  Ward, 
in  faithfully  depicting  the  heroic  sanctity  of  a woman 
with  whose  religious  views  she  is  by  no  means  fully  in 
sympathy,  is  as  unbiased  as  one  well  can  be  by  any  pre- 
dilections of  her  own ; but  Catherine,  a St.  Elizabeth 
though  she  may  be  in  many  ways,  is  continually  dis- 
plajdng  her  lack  of  breadth  of  mind ; her’s  is  a noble 
heart,  but  her  intellect  is  narrow ; with  all  her  goodness 


462 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


she  is  decidedly  illiberal  in  sentiment  and  constantly  falls 
into  the  error  common  to  all  strictly  orthodox  persons ; 
she  can  deal  very  tenderly  with  sinners,  even  with  crimi- 
nals she  can  be  gentle,  but  for  honest  heretics  she  has 
no  mercy.  Heresy  in  her  eyes  is  crime;  unorthodox 
opinion  is  worse  in  her  eyes  than  flagrant  immorality, 
and  with  all  her  own  honest  purity  of  heart  and  life  she 
can  be  far  more  lenient  with  unblushing  vice  than  with 
honest  skepticism ; errors  of  opinion  are  worse  offenses 
in  her  eyes  than  sins  of  the  deepest  dye.  On  one  occa- 
sion when  Mr.  Langham  has  visited  them  and  succeeded 
in  awakening  the  affections  of  her  sister  Rose,  who  was 
on  a visit  to  Murewell  at  the  time,  and  the  girl  asks  her 
elder  sister  if  she  could  have  married  a man  who  did 
not  believe  in  Christ,  she  answers  impetuously:  “To  me 
it  would  not  be  marriage.” 

Such  a woman  could  not  be  expected  to  sympathize 
with,  or  even  tolerate  the  slightest  departure  from  the 
very  strictest  line  of  evangelical  orthodoxy,  and  the  very 
serious  defect  in  her  habit  of  thought  which  causes  her 
such  bitter  sorrow  a little  later  on,  is  manifested  most 
unpleasantly  in  her  inability  to  admire  the  sterling  ex- 
cellence of  a man  like  Henry  Grey  because,  despite  his 
deep  and  noble  earnestness  and  integrity,  he  is  not  a 
believer  in  the  orthodox  interpretation  of  the  Bible. 

A very  important,  interesting,  but  in  some  respects 
decidedly  forbidding,  character  is  Mr.  Wendover,  the 
squire  of  Murewell,  a man  nearer  seventy  than  sixty, 
without  family  and  seemingly  almost  devoid  of  all 
human  sympathy ; a veritable  literary  fossil,  a man  of 
prodigious  intellect,  a voluminous  author,  an  erudite 


LECTURE  XXI. 


463 


scholar,  but  a cynic  and  misanthrope  living  almost  the 
life  of  a recluse,  with  no  near  relative  or  friend  to  share 
his  magnificent  mansion,  save  a curious,  flighty  sister, 
a strange  little  lady,  whom  one  feels  often  ready  to  pity 
and  sometimes  almost  to  despise.  This  squire  is  the 
possessor  of  a splendid  library ; his  collection  of  books 
is  unsurpassed  anywhere  in  England. 

Robert  Elsmere  loves  books  and  longs  to  devour  the 
contents  of  the  squire’s  library,  and  so  long  as  the  squire 
has  been  absent  traveling  on  the  continent,  the  rector 
has  enjoyed  freedom  of  access  to  the  Hall  library.  On 
the  return  of  the  squire  his  agent,  Henslowe  (a 
thoroughly  detestable  man),  prejudices  his  employer 
against  the  rector  on  account  of  the  disgraceful  condi- 
tion of  a portion  of  the  squire’s  estate  which  is  allowed 
to  remain  in  a disgusting,  disease-engendering  condition  ; 
the  squire  trusts  his  agent  and  believes  the  lies  he  pours 
into  his  ears  against  Elsmere,  falsehoods  he  is  the  more 
ready  to  accept  as  truth  by  reason  of  his  prejudice 
against  clergymen  and  enthusiasts  in  general,  and  Els- 
mere is  both  a clergyman  and  an  enthusiast. 

For  some  time  the  rector  works  as  best  he  can,  doing 
a large  amount  of  work  in  and  out  of  the  church,  and 
carrying  on  important  literary  labor  of  a historical  kind, 
under  decided  difficulties  and  at  considerable  expense, 
on  account  of  his  determination  to  be  under  no  obliga- 
tion to  the  squire,  whose  books  he  insisted  on  returning 
to  their  owner  immediately  a misunderstanding  had 
arisen  between  the  two  gentlemen,  brought  about  by 
the  rector’s  statement  concerning  Mile  End  being  dis- 
regarded by  the  squire  in  favor  of  Henslowe ’s  garbled 


464 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


account,  intended  to  provoke  hostility  between  his  em- 
ployer and  the  philanthropic  rector. 

After  a while  a terrible  disorder  breaks  out  in  the 
wretched  tumble-down  hovels  of  that  forsaken  district. 
The  squire  is  abroad  at  the  time,  but  arrives  home  just 
soon  enough  to  be  brought  face  to  face  with  the  fright- 
ful misery  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  shamefully  neglected 
portion  of  his  property,  and  to  witness  with  his  own 
eyes  the  heroic  fortitude  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Elsmere. 

Squire  Wendover  is  a man  who  cannot  be  moved  to 
the  outward  expression  of  deep  feeling ; his  nature  is 
of  that  painfully  repressed  type  common  to  a school  of 
intensely  rationalistic  literary  minds.  Such  a nature  is 
not  however  without  feeling,  and  while  a man  of  that 
caliber  will  not  say  much,  he  will  freely  place  his  purse 
at  the  disposal  of  an  intensely  sincere  and  thoroughly 
practical,  philanthropic  enthusiast  like  Robert  Elsmere, 
when  he  has  become  convinced  that  the  energetic 
worker  has  solid  grounds  for  his  undertakings.  From 
that  day  the  squire  and  the  rector  became  fast  friends ; 
in  many  a country  walk  they  enjoyed  each  other’s  soci- 
ety immensely,  as  two  men  of  diametrically  opposite 
temperaments  and  yet  with  many  tastes  in  common  fre- 
quently do.  As  we  see  them  constantly  together,  we 
readily  trace  the  softening,  mellowing  influence,  almost 
imperceptibly  exerted  upon  the  aged  cynic  by  the  youth- 
ful and  impetuous  enthusiast;  and  even  more  clearly 
do  Ave  observe  how  the  aged  scholar  (who  delights  in 
nothing  so  much  as  in  the  destruction  of  all  that  appears 
to  him  as  superstitious  folly)  gradually  undermines 
Elsmere’s  religious  superstructure  of  dogmatic  creed 


LECTURE  XXI. 


465 


and  ecclesiastical  usage,  but  never  does  he  seem  to 
shake  the  young  clergyman’s  vivid  apprehension  of  God 
in  the  universe  and  in  the  human  soul.  At  this  period 
(the  most  intensely  trying  one  imaginable  in  the  career 
of  a young  man  of  Elsmere’s  temper)  an  extremely 
ascetic  priest  of  the  most  fervid  Catholic  evangelical 
type  urges  Elsmere  to  join  in  a ‘‘  retreat  ” at  a neigh- 
boring village,  and  there  seek  to  overcome  what  the 
priest  regards  as  the  most  pernicious  effects  of  religious 
free-thinking,  at  the  foot  of  the  altar  of  personal  self- 
surrender to  the  voice  of  the  church,  in  the  most  un- 
compromising manner.  Mr.  Newcome,  the  Anglican 
priest,  not  at  all  an  uncommon  figure  in  “ high  church  ” 
circles  both  in  England  and  America,  is  an  unquestion- 
ably good  man ; a man,  however,  who  sees  nothing  out- 
side of  orthodoxy  but  damnation.  Such  a narrow  view 
cannot  commend  itself  to  the  budding  and  ever-expand- 
ing  genius  of  our  hero ; and  thus  Newcome  must  turn 
away  saddened  and  depressed,  half  in  anger,  half  in 
pity,  from  the  man  for  whom  he  entertains  a warm,  dis- 
interested friendship,  but  with  whom  he  cannot  possi- 
bly associate  after  he  has  discovered  his  persistence  in 
heretical  opinion.  Once  in  a while  this  thin,  pleading, 
but  commanding  figure  in  long,  black  clerical  attire, 
appears  on  the  scene  of  Elsmere’s  work ; but  at  length 
very  seldom,  and  then  only  when  he  feels  impelled  by 
what  he  regards  as  the  voice  of  the  Almighty,  to  call 
back  his  wandering  servant  to  the  fold.  Here  again 
we  are  constrained  to  pause  an  instant  to  most  warmly 
commend  the  authoress’s  exquisite  fairness  in  dealing 
with  the  representatives  of  all  shades  of  opinion  and 


466 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


schools  of  thought.  She  paints  the  ascetic  priest  as  a 
noble  fellow,  while  she  shows  up  as  plainly  as  can  be 
done,  the  defects  in  persons  whose  opinions  coincide  far 
more  nearly  with  her  own,  and  it  is  for  this  reason  that 
we  regard  Mrs.  Ward  as  an  epoch-making  woman  in 
the  field  of  romantic  religious  literature ; for  if  the 
future  church  of  humanity,  foreseen  by  prophetic  minds 
through  all  the  ages,  is  ever  to  be  established,  its  mem- 
bers must  be  those  who  can  allow  no  intellectual  differ- 
ences or  agreements  to  becloud  their  judgment  or  per- 
vert their  will. 

Mr.  Newcome  and  Catherine  Elsmere  are  neither  of 
them  liberal-minded,  but  they  are  both  truly  excellent 
in  their  peculiar  ways;  both  are  deeply  in  earnest  in 
proclaiming  and  maintaining  what  they  feel  (and  think 
they  know)  to  be  divine  truth;  both  are  evangelicals, 
he  of  the  Catholic,  she  of  the  Protestant  type ; but  they 
both  insult  reason  to  feed  hysterical  emotion ; both  are 
narrow  and  intellectually  very  shortsighted.  Let  either 
of  them  present  their  hearts  to  the  judgment  of  the 
sincere  of  all  persuasions,  and  they  immediately  invite 
and  obtain  the  deepest  affection  and  most  loving  appre- 
ciation from  all  whose  affection  is  worth  the  having; 
but  let  them  present  their  minds  for  inspection  to  the 
just  and  liberal,  and  the  verdict  pronounced  must  be 
that  they  are  deficient,  lamentably  so  in  critical  ability, 
and  painfully  predisposed  to  exalt  dogma  to  the  very 
throne  of  heaven. 

A crisis  is  speedily  reached  in  Elsmere’s  mental  evo- 
lution ; he  soon  finds  himself  no  longer  able  to  remain 
in  the  Church  of  England  as  a minister ; were  he  a lay- 


LECTURE  XXI. 


467 


man,  he  could  continue,  no  doubt,  to  worship  in  his 
accustomed  place,  but  his  keen  sense  of  honor  sternly 
revolts  against  all  endeavor  to  effect  a compromise 
between  conviction  and  appearance. 

Some  of  Mrs.  Ward’s  very  best  writing  is  where  she 
shows  up  in  its  true  light  the  evasive  position  held  by 
many  clergymen  Avho  retain  their  livings  only  through 
their  personal  popularity  and  influence,  or  their  singular 
power  to  twist  language  and  give  Avords  a meaning  they 
do  not  possess  to  the  ears  of  ordinary  listeners.  Robert 
Elsmere  must  leave  the  church,  he  will  not  wait  to  be 
turned  out  or  even  allow  himself  to  be  tried  for  heresy ; 
he  will  go  out,  and  his  leaving  the  church  thus  sug- 
gests far  more  topic  for  thought  and  discussion  than  a 
series  of  lectures  or  eA^en  volumes  could  exhaust. 

We  know  that  some  men  who  remain  in  a church 
while  they  are  not  in  sympathy  Avith  its  dogmas  are 
thoroughly  sincere,  and  as  their  course  commends  itself 
to  their  own  consciences  they  are  undoubtedly  right  in 
staying  where  they  are ; such  men,  or  at  least,  the  great- 
est of  them,  have  something  of  the  work  to  do  attempted 
by  Savonarola  ; but  was  Savonarola  successful  in  reform- 
ing the  church  from  Avithin  ? History,  alas  ! answers 
with  a decided  negative.  But  then  it  can  easily  be 
argued  that  Savonarola’s  Avork  was  to  purge  out  immo- 
rality rather  than  to  perfect  a change  in  religious  doc- 
trine, consequently  in  a licentious  age  the  will  of  the 
ruling  party  opposed  him,  while  reformers  in  the  Prot- 
estant communions  of  to-day  have  the  sympathy  of 
the  masses  on  their  side,  who  only  need  a more  liberal 
education  to  bring  them  out  of  the  Avilderness  of  dog- 


468 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


matic  theology  into  the  fair  promised  land  of  complete 
freedom  from  intellectual  and  ceremonial  restriction. 

Archdeacon  Farrar  of  Westminster  is  fully  as  un- 
orthodox as  the  much  revered  and  lamented  Dean  Stan- 
ley, also  of  Westminster,  whose  ‘‘History  of  the  Jewish 
Church”  is  almost  as  radical  as  the  utterances  of  the 
celebrated  Colenso,  late  Bishop  of  Natal,  South  Africa. 
This  man,  popularly  known  as  Canon  Farrar,  is,  how- 
ever, in  no  equivocal  position ; he  is  in  a most  conspicu- 
ous position,  from  which  his  light  shines  over  the  earth 
as  well  as  over  England,  as  the  head  of  the  Broad  Church 
party ; but  he  publicly  announces  his  position,  and  it  is 
a clearly  defined,  and  to  his  mind  a thoroughly  tenable 
one ; he  does  not  tacitly  ignore  objectionable  dogmas,  he 
boldly  attacks  and  refutes  them,  and  while  many  gifted 
men  and  women  both  in  and  out  of  the  church  cannot 
agree  with  his  standing  where  he  does  while  saying  what 
he  does,  no  one  with  a grain  of  judgment  or  an  ounce  of 
perception  can  accuse  Farrar  of  willful  temporizing. 

In  New  York  City,  Heber  Newton  preaches  decided 
radicalism  in  an  Episcopal  church;  almost  everybody 
knows  what  his  views  are  on  the  Bible,  the  atonement, 
and  every  other  leading  doctrine  of  the  church.  Many 
people,  of  course,  condemn  him  for  remaining  where  he 
is,  and  declare  his  position  an  anachronism  of  the  worst 
kind,  but  is  it?  Is  he  not  one  of  an  ever-enlarging 
number  of  excellent  and  learned  men  who  believe  it  to 
be  their  mission  to  revise  creeds  and  restate  theology 
within  the  precincts  of  the  church  itself? 

Now,  many  a man  has  been  ignominiously  thrust  out 
of  the  church  for  entertaining  and  preaching  the  very 


LECTURE  XXI. 


469 


views  one  can  now  hear  promulgated  from  avowedly 
evangelical  pulpits  almost  every  day,  and  certainly 
twice  every  Sunday.  Why  is  this  but  because  ecclesi- 
astical authorities  are  apt  to  be  extremely  wary  ? It  does 
not  do  to  weaken  the  church,  as  it  would  be  weakened, 
were  men  of  great  popularity  and  ability  constantly 
thrust  out  of  its  body ; and  it  is  but  fact,  that  personal 
influence,  more  than  all  besides,  usually  influences  the 
flnal  decision.  Can  we  afford  to  lose  the  man  ? is  the 
chief  question  asked  by  those  in  whom  the  power  to  ex- 
communicate resides.  For  those  who  toy  with  their 
conscience,  juggle  with  words,  repress  convictions,  and 
make  ministerial  duties  simply  matters  of  business,  we 
can  have  no  sympathy,  for  while  a man  has  a right  to 
earn  his  living  by  preaching  what  he  does  believe,  he 
has  no  right  to  earn  a penny,  even  were  he  in  destitu- 
tion, by  preaching  what  he  does  not  believe,  or  through 
ingenious  processes  of  prevarication,  which  are  doubtless 
cleverer  but  no  less  sinful  than  downright  lying. 

All  cant  about  unpaid  ministers  is  folly.  Business  is 
not  a disgrace,  and  those  who  object  to  clergymen  re- 
ceiving salaries  are  never  logical  in  their  arguments  or 
apt  in  their  illustrations.  The  whole  question  is.  How 
far  are  you  honest?  To  what  extent  does  your  con- 
science approve  your  method  of  obtaining  a livelihood  ? 
The  strictest  conscientiousness  should  be  demanded  of 
a clergyman,  but  no  less  should  be  exacted  of  a business 
man.  Elsmere  could  not  take  a penny  of  the  church’s 
money;  he  could  not  preach  another  Sunday  after  he 
knew  that  he  did  not  indorse  the  words  his  lips  would 
be  compelled  to  repeat  while  reading  the  service,  and  it 


470 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


is,  after  all,  the  liturgy  rather  than  the  sermon  that  most 
sorely  taxes  the  conscientious  liberal. 

There  are  plenty  of  hymns  one  can  select  which  do 
not  offend  against  liberal  sentiment,  and  there  is  an 
almost  unlimited  choice  of  topics  for  discourse  open  to 
a religious  radical,  even  when  in  a conservative  pulpit ; 
but  portions  of  creeds  and  litany,  as  well  as  the  endings 
of  many  prayers  and  collects,  place  the  liberal-minded 
Episcopal  minister  in  a sorry  fix.  If  he  is  anything  of 
a mystic,  or  a Theosophist,  he  can  use  every  word  with 
the  mental  reservation  that  he  employs  it  in  the  under- 
standing of  its  hidden  meaning,  but  can  an  honest  man 
do  this  in  a place  where  he  dare  not  explain  this  mean- 
ing to  his  congregation  ? 

In  a Swedenborgian  place  of  worship  the  congregation 
knows  that  the  Scriptures  are  understood  spiritually, 
that  psalms  are  not  taken  in  their  letter ; but  the  min- 
ister in  such  a church  can  enter  his  pulpit  with  an  un- 
fettered tongue  and  expatiate  freely  on  the  hidden 
meanings  of  the  sacred  word.  In  Robert  Elsmere’s 
extremity  he  very  wisely  consults  with  his  noble  friend. 
Professor  Grey.  He  makes  a flying  visit  to  Oxford,  and 
in  his  old  tutor’s  sanctum  unburdens  his  mind  freelj^ 
The  gist  of  Grey’s  advice  is,  conceal  nothing  from  your 
wife;  return  home  instantly  and  tell  her  everything. 
Mr.  Grey  does  not  appear,  with  all  his  insight,  to  have 
sounded  the  depths  of  Catherine  Elsmere’s  religious 
fanaticism,  and  thus  he  cannot  tell  how  agonizingly 
she  will  suffer  when  she  feels  called  upon  to  decide 
between  Christ  and  her  husband,  for  so  the  matter  must 
appear  to  her.  Then  the  question  of  the  father’s  influ- 


LECTURE  XXI. 


471 


ence  over  the  little  daughter  will  add  fresh  pangs  to 
her  torture,  for  remember  she  regards  intellectual  ortho- 
doxy as  the  only  passport  to  heaven  and  means  of  re- 
demption from  hell.  Here  a homily  on  marriage  might 
well  be  preached,  and  as  Mrs.  Mona  Caird’s  question. 
Is  marriage  a failure  ? has  not  yet  lost  its  interest  for 
the  popular  mind,  we  cannot  refrain  from  a hasty  analy- 
sis of  Elsmere’s  partial  mistake  in  marrying  Catherine 
Leyburn,  for  it  cannot  be  denied  that  he  and  she  were 
both  made  indescribably  wretched  in  consequence  of 
their  terribly  ill-matched  intellects. 

They  loved  each  other  truly  and  tenderly  from  first 
to  last  and  were  a decided  blessing  the  one  to  the  other ; 
of  this  there  can  be  no  doubt.  But  is  love  all  that  is 
needful  to  secure  a truly  happy  marriage?  Love  is 
blind  when  not  united  with  wisdom.  Affection  without 
reason,  heart  without  head,  will  always  run  astray ; and 
where  natures  may  be  the  purest  and  ideals  the  highest, 
intellectual  incompatibility  will  frequently  prove  the 
source  of  untold  misery.  Husband  and  wife  need  not, 
and  should  not,  be  alike  ; they  may  differ  widely,  but 
they  must  not  disagree.  One  may  sing  and  not  paint ; 
the  other  may  paint  and  not  sing ; but  the  singer  must 
love  pictures  and  the  painter  must  love  song.  One 
temperament  may  be  emotional,  the  other  intellectual, 
but  they  must  complement,  not  antagonize  each  other. 
Red  contrasts  with  gold  or  blue,  and  wliile  these  colors 
are  intensely  dissimilar,  their  combination  produces 
charming  and  harmonious  effects. 

To  all  young  people  contemplating  matrimony  our 
exhortation  is : Do  not  sacrifice  either  heart  to  head  or 


472 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


head  to  heart.  Marriage  is  a partnership  not  requiring 
similarity  of  attainment  in  the  members  of  the  firm,  but 
imperatively  demanding  unity  without  uniformity  — 
harmony  as  beyond  unison.  Husband  and  wife  may 
differ  as  a soprano  voice  differs  from  a basso  profundo, 
or  as  the  music  of  a violin  differs  from  that  of  a cornet, 
but  'they  must  be  able  to  sing  or  play  together,  so  that 
harmony,  not  discord,  is  produced. 

Conservative  Hebrews  and  Roman  Catholics  are  quite 
right  in  discouraging  mixed  marriages,  for  where  one  is 
an  ardent  believer  in  one  system  of  faith  and  the  other 
is  equally  earnest  in  defending  a counter-system,  har- 
mony is  impossible ; and  where  there  are  children,  what 
can  be  more  terrible  in  its  effects  than  a constant  jar  be- 
tween parents  ? Mixed  marriages  of  an  objectionable 
kind  are  not  necessarily  marriages  where  the  contracting 
parties  are  one  Jew  and  the  other  Gentile,  or  one  Cath- 
olic and  the  other  Protestant,  for  in  San  Francisco,  for 
instance,  the  Jewish  Temple  Emanu-El,  has  often  pre- 
sented a delightful  picture  of  true  harmony  between 
liberal  Jew  and  liberal  Christian.  Dr.  Stebbins,  the 
Unitarian  pastor,  has  conducted  public  Thanksgiving 
services  with  Dr.  Cohn  and  Dr.  Voorsanger  in  the  Tem- 
ple, and  who  could  decide  where  the  vital  differences 
were  in  the  theology  of  these  three  estimable  gentlemen  ? 
But  let  a Hebrew  or  a Unitarian  marry  a rigid  Presby- 
terian of  the  old  school ; or  let  a devout  Roman  Catholic 
marry  a bigoted  Protestant  or  a skeptic,  how  can  har- 
mony prevail  ? People  who  have  convictions  must  make 
their  convictions  the  basis  of  their  union.  Physical 
charms  may  quickly  disappear,  accomplishments  may 


LECTUKE  XXI. 


473 


cease  to  inspire  admiration,  but  deep-seated  convictions 
are  permanent.  Two  unformed  minds  may  marry  in 
early  youth,  and  if  mutually  loving  and  sympathetic, 
may  form  themselves  into  one.  Two  formed  minds  who 
know  they  agree  on  all  vital  points,  can  marry  with  the 
greatest  safety ; but  an  unformed  mind,  coupled  with  an 
ardent  progressive  temper,  like  that  of  Robert  Elsmere 
in  his  early  twenties,  uniting  itself  with  a thoroughly 
set  mind  like  that  of  Catherine  Leyburn,  must  inevitably 
bring  bitter  sorrow ; for  they  are  both  so  intense  in  their 
feelings  that  not  to  feel  alike  is  to  suffer  beyond  descrip- 
tion. A youth’s  marriage  with  a woman,  mentally  ma- 
ture, though  still  young  in  years  and  physically  youthful, 
must  be  a mistake,  unless  the  young  man’s  mind  is  so 
open  to  his  wife’s  influence  that  she  can  be  his  guide, 
or  at  least  his  companion  in  intellectual  pursuits. 

In  this  age  the  intellect  cannot  and  will  not  be  pa- 
tiently submissive  to  the  heart.  Intellect  and  affection 
themselves  insist  upon  being  married  in  every  reasonable 
and  healthy  individual,  and  though  goodness  of  heart  is 
the  mainspring  of  all  virtue,  a good  heart  and  a level  head 
are  both  needed  when  two  young  people  agree  to  enter 
upon  a compact,  the  most  sacred  and  binding  on  earth. 

As  Elsmere’s  mind  expands  ever  wider  and  wider, 
opening  like  a beautiful  flower  to  the  sunshine  and  pure 
air  of  fresh  progressive  thought,  Catherine  retires  deeper 
and  deeper  into  herself  and  sees  in  her  husband’s  ear- 
nest and  successful  efforts  to  bless  his  fellows,  nothing 
better  than  a fight  against  Christ  and  his  gospel.  Very 
slowly  and  by  very  painful  steps  is  she  at  length  led  to 
believe  that  after  all  he  may  be  following  the  Master  in 


474 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY, 


a way  she  knows  not  of,  but  she  never  enters  fully  into 
his  work;  she  cannot.  She  remains  in  the  old  way, 
drinking  old  wine  from  an  old  bottle,  while  he  cannot 
partake  of  any  other  than  the  new  wine  of  the  new  dis- 
pensation from  a new  bottle,  ever  expanding  in  his  hands 
as  the  new  wine  ferments  within  it. 

Robert  Elsmere’s  theology  is  sublime ; his  work  Christ- 
like  in  the  highest  sense.  He  reaches  the  secularists  on 
their  own  ground  in  their  own  halls ; he  shows  them  the 
worthlessness  and  the  wrong  of  their  incendiary  and 
shallow  methods  of  attack  on  all  religious  things.  He 
reconceives  the  Christ ; he  strips  the  man  of  Nazareth  of 
all  fictitious  adornment,  and  like  Count  Tolstoi  of  Russia, 
he  leaves  a magnificent  human  worker  and  exemplar,  as 
loving  as  the  model  of  Renan,  but  far  more  vigorous  and 
manly.  He  is  able,  through  a thorough  identification 
with  workingmen,  to  bring  to  them  the  practical  gospel 
they  so  sorely  need.  In  his  hands  social  and  political 
problems  are  taken  out  of  the  arena  of  fierce  and  acri- 
monious partisanship  and  placed  where  they  belong  in 
the  arena  of  religious  thought  and  feeling. 

Religion  is  the  science  of  right  living.  Religio^  to 
bind,  means  to  unite,  not  to  enslave ; and  when  all  are 
bound  together  in  the  chains  of  true  co-operative  fellow- 
ship — when  the  demon,  competition,  is  cast  from  out 
our  minds  — then,  but  not  till  then,  will  dawn  the  golden 
day  when 

‘‘  Peace  shall  over  all  the  earth 
Its  undimmed  splendors  fling, 

And  the  whole  earth  send  back  the  song 
The  blessed  angels  sing.” 


LECTURE  XXII. 


CHRIST  RE-CONCEIVED  ; OR,  THE  BASIS  OF  THE  NEW 
RELIGION. 

Now  that  we  are  engaged  in  a study  of  comparative 
theology,  we  find  ourselves  daily  more  and  more  in  sym- 
pathy with  the  work  of  Lady  Caithness,  who,  in  her 
Mystery  of  the  Ages,”  (the  very  best  book  on  Theos- 
ophy ever  published  for  general  readers,)  explains  to  the 
satisfaction  of  every  genuine  scholar  and  true  radical  or 
rationalist  (using  those  terms  as  their  use  is  justified  by 
etymology),  how  both  the  historical  and  astronomical 
characters  presented  to  students  of  mythology  are  de- 
signed to  conceal  great  spiritual  truths  pertaining  to  the 
origin,  progress,  and  destiny  of  the  human  soul;  truths 
common  to  all  religious  systems  and  therefore  super- 
theological  as  theology  is  ordinarily  understood.  Now 
it  is  with  the  universal  spiritual  element  in  religion, 
(the  science  of  right  living)  that  we  have  properly  to 
deal,  not  with  curious  speculative  theories  and  historical 
uncertainties ; for  until  religion  is  taken  out  of  all  par- 
ticular time  and  place,  and  posited  in  the  universal,  it 
is  less  than  religion  proper.  A religion  in  the  narrow 
sense  in  which  there  may  be  many  religions,  it  may  be, 
but  religion  unqualified  by  article  or  adjective,  it  can- 
not be. 


476 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY, 


Now  a study  of  the  world’s  several  great  systems  of 
religion  leads  every  unbiased  mind  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  spirit  of  religion  is  ONE.  Religious  conceptions 
are  innate  in  the  human  soul ; and  gradually  revealed, 
manifested,  expressed,  or  evolved  as  the  human  intellect 
permits  the  soul’s  conviction  to  filter  through  it.  Sucli 
men  as  Piazza  Smythe,  the  celebrated  Scotch  astrono- 
mer, endeavor  to  account  for  the  great  Egyptian  pyra- 
mid only  on  the  supposition  of  supernatural  miracle; 
but  in  so  doing  they  limit  and  dwarf  man’s  idea  of  the 
Supreme  Being,  and  while  striving  to  honor  God  they 
are  in  reality  belittling  Him,  for  what  can  be  smaller  or 
more  puerile  than  the  notion  that  God  has  to  change 
or  supersede  law  in  order  to  fulfill  his  own  design,  or 
accomplish  good  to  humanity.  The  student  of  archaeol- 
ogy  traces  the  gradual  development  of  the  human  race  for 
perhaps  more  than  50,000  years,  and  instead  of  rejecting 
the  testimony  of  earth  and  ocean  to  the  astonishing 
antiquity  of  man,  gladly  avails  himself  of  every  means 
of  verifying  whatever  story  of  human  antiquity  tends 
to  clear  away  the  fog  of  the  mysterious,  and  present  to 
intelligence  a comprehensible  and  rational  picture  of 
gradual  but  incessant  human  progress. 

In  this  transitional  period  of  thought,  it  is  highly 
necessary  to  deal  in  positive  affirmations ; nothing  short 
of  gnosticism  will  satisfy  the  tired  intellect  and  wounded 
restless  heart,  worried  and  disappointed  with  philosophic 
agnosticism,  (scholarly  ignorance).  Souls  no  sooner 
break  away  from  the  traditional  view  of  the  Christ,  than 
they  feel  called  upon  to  re-conceive  the  Christ,  and 
while  this  re-conception  may  be  at  first  inadequate  in 


LECTURE  XXII. 


47T 


many  respects,  it  is  generally  healthful,  hopeful,  prac- 
tical, and  sublime.  The  Christ  idea  is  in  reality,  how- 
ever, a much  larger  idea  than  either  the  orthodox  or 
heterodox  imagine  it  to  be.  According  to  Theosophy,  it 
is  much  broader  than  any  ideal  which  can  find  its  fulfill- 
ment in  either  a supernatural  incarnation  of  deity,  once 
in  the  history  of  the  planet ; or  in  the  life  of  an  excellent 
but,  nevertheless,  imperfect  man ; and  it  is  to  the  latter 
view  unfortunately  that  liberal  religious  thought  almost 
invariably  turns.  Now  the  Christ  idea  must  not  be  con- 
founded with  the  personal  appearance  of  any  Messiah, 
nor  with  the  biography  of  any  hero,  no  matter  how 
noble.  In  Egypt  the  Christ  idea  found  its  exemplifica- 
tion many  thousands  of  years  before  Christ,  in  the  em- 
bodiment, according  to  ancient  tradition,  of  the  angel  of 
the  sun  (Osiris). 

The  life  of  this  incarnate  god  ” is  clearly  written  on 
many  an  antique  scroll,  and  shown  forth  to  perfection  in 
the  interior  construction  of  the  great  pyramid ; but  to  all 
who  are  in  any  degree  familiar  with  the  hidden  truths 
of  Egyptian  Theosophy,  the  personal  career  of  the  em- 
bodied Osiris  is  known  to  be  a delineation  of  the  univer- 
sal experiences  of  the  human  soul,  of  which  the  sun  is 
the  symbol  according  to  the  ritual  of  antiquity. 

Gerald  Massey  and  other  authors  of  his  school  of 
thought  have  thrown  much  valuable  light  on  the  astro- 
nomical aspects  of  mythology,  but  it  is  reserved  for  the 
true  Theosophist  to  penetrate  deeper  into  the  spirit  and 
explain  how  astronomical  facts  as  well  as  personal  his- 
tories have  all  been  pressed  into  the  service  of  a sublime 
and  universal  philosophy  (or  rather  science),  in  which 


478 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


the  heavenly  bodies  as  well  as  the  lives  of  men  have  all 
been  employed  as  material  for  illustrating  the  mystery 
of  all  ages  — God  manifest  in  flesh.  In  Asia,  Buddha, 
Krishna  and  Zoroaster  mean  vastly  more  than  solitary 
individuals;  but  a little  close  inspection  of  two  seem- 
ingly divergent  theories  will  demonstrate  the  inseparable 
unity  of  the  universal  with  the  individual  idea.  Osiris, 
Buddha,  Krishna,  Zoroaster,  Christ,  are  all  titles  expres- 
sive of  spiritual  dignity  won  only  through  victory  over 
sense ; therefore  these  titles  may  have  been  given  to 
many  different  personages  in  the  history  of  the  race,  but 
they  all  mean  one  who  has  triumphed  in  spiritual  con- 
flict over  every  enemy  of  righteousness,  one  in  whom 
the  divine  light  of  the  soul  (the  central  sun  around 
which  all  the  planets  of  intellect  and  satellites  of  sense 
must  obediently  revolve  in  perfectly  harmonious  accord) 
is  revealed  in  its  true  splendor,  — made  manifest  through 
the  veil  of  flesh,  which,  from  being  the  opaque  veil  of 
concealment  hiding  the  soul,  has  become  through  a com- 
pletion of  all  necessary  processes  of  initiation,  a trans- 
parent window,  a perfectly  diaphanous  medium  for 
divine  revealment. 

Now  though  Zoroaster  in  particular  has  puzzled  chro- 
nologists,  some  of  whom  have  made  him  live  six  thousand 
years  before  Christ,  others  in  the  time  of  Abraham,  others 
again  as  a contemporary  of  Pythagoras,  so  that  his  lit- 
eral history  seems  all  in  the  air,  the  enlightened  Parsee 
explains  that  Zoroaster  is  a title,  not  a family  surname, 
and  therefore  may  have  been  borne  in  different  ages  and 
places  by  different  individuals,  each  of  whom  attained  to 
the  perfect  life  of  complete  control  over  the  lower  self ; 


LECTUBE  XXII. 


479 


thus  the  historical  difficulty  is  removed  and  all  the  dates 
assigned  may  be  correct. 

An  Oriental  tradition  concerning  Buddha  is  to  the 
effect  that  Vishnu,  (the  second  person  of  the  Brahmin 
trinity,)  incarnates  himself  whenever  the  world  is  in 
special  need  of  a deliverer ; this  belief  stripped  of  all  en- 
cumbering fallacies  signifies  simply  that  whenever  there 
is  a great  demand  or  imperative  need  for  spiritual  en- 
lightenment on  earth,  the  need  is  met,  the  demand  sup- 
plied ; thus  the  Indian  prince  Gautama,  the  hero  of 
Edwin  Arnold’s  ‘‘  Light  of  Asia,”  was  only  one  of  many 
Buddhas,  and  while  his  period  was  about  550  B.C.,  the 
records  of  a Buddha’s  appearing  many  thousand  years 
earlier  need  not  be  disputed. 

The  Jews  of  old  were  always  looking  for  the  advent 
of  a Messiah,  and  some  of  the  orthodox  to-day  expect  a 
personal  deliverer  soon  to  appear  to  restore  all  Israel  to 
Palestine.  Progressive  Jewish  thought,  however,  favors 
the  impersonal  view  and  makes  the  Messiah  the  entire 
people  when  redeemed  from  error,  so  soon  as  their  mes- 
sianic mission  among  all  nations  is  accomplished ; but 
as  the  lesser  may  always  be  contained  in  the  greater, 
the  personal  may  always  be  included  in  the  universal ; 
thus  the  true  idea  of  the  achievement  of  a single  indi- 
vidual prior  to  the  glorification  of  an  entire  community 
and  eventually  of  all  mankind,  is  simply  that  there 
must  always  be  some  fruit  on  the  Tree  of  Life  ripened 
earlier  than  other  specimens  on  the  same  tree.  The 
personal  Christ,  as  an  exemplar,  is  a most  reasonable 
and  helpful  expression  of  the  Christ  idea,  for  the  pat- 
tern life  of  one  who  has  already  attained  is  the  model 


480 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


for  others  who  are  striving  to  excel ; not  simply  a model 
in  the  sense  of  a pattern  for  imitation,  but  what  is  far 
more  to  the  point,  the  embodied  fulfillment  in  history  of 
a state  to  which  the  entire  race  is  ever  aspiring,  which 
state  is  thereby  proved  attainable  by  reason  of  its  being 
already  an  accomplished  fact.  The  Christ  in  history  is 
a perfect  human  model,  an  ideal  man,  and  is  common 
in  some  degree  to  all  countries  and  to  all  periods. 

Any  conception  of  an  imperfect  Christ  is  a scholar’s 
transitional  conception  caused  by  looking  at  the  picture 
of  the  ideal  man  through  the  glasses  of  distorted  history. 
Neither  Strauss  or  Renan  have  caught  anything  like  a 
full  view  of  the  Christ  idea  in  history ; they  have  care- 
fully studied  literature  on  its  superficial  side  and  have 
compiled  interesting  biographical  narratives,  but  the 
work  of  both  these  authors  is  very  incomplete.  Many 
men  have  struck  out  from  orthodoxy  into  religious  lib- 
eralism through  reading  such  books,  which  as  contribu- 
tions to  literature  are  histories  of  evidence,  elaborate 
treatises  on  the  validity  or  invalidity  of  human  testi- 
mony. For  the  inner  meaning  and  spiritual  import  of 
narratives  designed  to  set  forth  esoteric  verities  such 
authors  have  no  affections,  and  of  this  deeper  meaning 
in  what  they  discuss  they  know  nothing;  their  minds 
are  legal,  judicial,  external ; fair  and  honorable  without 
doubt  in  intent,  but  prejudiced  nevertheless ; for  while 
they  show  themselves  thoroughlj^  determined  to  allow 
Christian  evidence  no  favor  denied  to  evidence  on  any 
other  side,  their  positive  prejudices  against  the  Christian 
system  often  warp  their  judgment  as  it  warps  that  of 
most  skeptics  who  are  only  too  delighted  to  find  flaws 


LECTURE  XXII. 


481 


in  a system  they  have  grown  to  despise,  doubtless  by 
reason  of  the  errors  which  have  so  long  disfigured  it. 
Such  people  desire  to  flog  the  character  of  Jesus  over 
the  shoulders  of  an  ecclesiastical  tyranny  which  has 
usurped  the  name  whilst  it  has  denied  and  forsaken  the 
spirit  of  the  Christ,  and  so  long  as  this  reactionary  feel- 
ing continues,  ‘‘  free  thought  ” will  be  in  many  instances 
a misapplied  term,  for  no  thought  can  possibly  be  free 
till  the  mind  of  the  thinker  is  completely  cured  of  the 
disease  of  prejudice  from  which  so  many  otherwise  can- 
did and  able  men  are  at  present  suffering  grievously. 
Concerning  the  proper  estimate  of  Christian  testimony 
when  placed  side  by  side  with  other  testimony  and  the 
actual  tendency  of  orthodox  works  on  Christian  evidence 
to  make  infidels  of  reasoners,  their  position  is  impreg- 
nable, for  it  is  indeed  pitiful  to  witness  the  shameful 
special  pleading  of  men  who  ought  to  know  and  do 
better  when  they  are  endeavoring  to  bolster  up  a system 
to  which  they  are  attached,  at  the  expense  of  every 
other  system  on  earth. 

Unless  it  be  among  Unitarians  by  whom  all  religions 
are  treated  with  an  unusual  degree  of  fairness,  the 
divinity  class  in  a college  is  the  place  where  Christianity 
is  proved  true  by  processes  of  the  most  unwarrantable 
assumption.  Christianity  is  a client  to  be  defended  at 
all  risk,  and  every  possible  artifice  by  which  mental  in- 
genuity can  possibly  be  pressed  into  the  service  is 
strained  to  its  utmost  to  defend  the  one  system  which 
is  alone  adjudged  defensible,  while  the  very  vilest  ex- 
crescences of  other  systems  are  taken  as  representative  of 
the  systems  of  which  they  are  but  disfiguring  accretions. 


482 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


On  Friday,  January  18th,  1889,  in  the  First  Congre- 
gational Church  of  San  Francisco,  Mr.  Moody,  during 
his  Bible  Reading,  had  a kind  word  to  say  for  almost 
everybody  and  manifested  royal  liberality  of  soul  when 
speaking  of  the  Chinese ; but  when  he  alluded  to  Bud- 
dhism he  was  guilty  of  the  most  egregious  though  doubt- 
less guiltless  misrepresentation;  he  no  doubt  believed 
what  he  said,  but  he  spoke  untruly,  for  Buddhism  no 
more  teaches  the  inferiority  of  woman  than  Christianity 
does,  and  while  no  doubt  one  can  find  utterances  of 
Buddhists  and  many  more  of  B^rahmins  and  Moham- 
medans speaking  contemptuously  of  woman,  is  Mr. 
Moody  so  blind  to  the  teaching  of  the  present  day  as 
not  to  know  that  Paul’s  Epistles  are  the  armory  from 
which  the  opponents  not  only  of  female  suffrage  but  of 
female  pastors  often  draw  their  ammunition?  Jesus 
and  Paul  did  not  always  teach  alike.  Jesus  did  work 
to  emancipate  women  from  Oriental  slavery  as  far  as  his 
benign  influence  extended,  but  Paul  was  never  fully 
liberated  himself,  and  on  Paul  more  than  on  Jesus  is 
the  edifice  of  Christian  sacerdotalism  made  to  rest ; and 
of  this  system  Mr.  Moody  is  in  great  .measure  a repre- 
sentative, advocate  and  exponent,  even  though  his  pro- 
nounced Protestantism  leads  him  to  object  to  the  word 
sacerdos  (a  priest).  Now  Buddha  never  taught  woman’s 
inferiority  to  man,  while  the  absurd  dogma  of  her  having 
to  be  re-embodied  as  a male  ere  she  could  enjoy  immor- 
tality, is  a most  ignorant  misconception  of  a prominent 
feature  of  a certain  school  of  Oriental  philosophy  not 
unknown  in  Europe  and  America,  which  teaches  that 
the  human  soul  must  be  successively  embodied  in  male 


LECTUKE  XXIl. 


483 


and  female  forms  to  gain  all  possible  earthly  experience ; 
those  who  favor  this  doctrine  believe  necessarily  in  the 
absolute  equality  of  the  sexes,  and  maintain  that  man 
and  woman  differ  only  in  external  organism,  for  if 
woman  ever  needs  re-embodiment  as  man,  man  equally 
needs  re-embodiment  as  woman.  We  have  simply  in- 
troduced this  criticism  of  Mr.  Moody’s  misrepresentation 
of  Buddhism  as  an  example  of  the  frightfully  pernicious 
course  pursued  by  Christian  apologists  in  general,  and 
if  criticism  does  no  more  than  call  attention  to  this 
manifest  and  shameful  unfairness  on  the  part  of  alleged 
disciples  of  an  impartial  Christ,  it  will  certainly  not 
be  offered  in  vain.  We  must  now  very  briefly  point 
out  where  a misconception  of  the  Christ  often  prevents 
an  intelligent  re-conception,  and  that  it  often  does  so 
is  patent  to  all  discerning  readers  of  current  literature. 
The  life  of  Jesus  is  a representative,  an  ideal  life,  no 
matter  whether  historical  or  otherwise  ; the  actions  of 
the  Christ  are  recorded  as  examples  of  universal  god- 
liness, therefore  it  is  but  right  and  reasonable  to  submit 
them  to  the  most  searching  scrutiny. 

On  a few  occasions  Jesus  is  said  by  critics  to  have 
lost  his  temper  and  allowed  uncontrolled  passion  to  dis- 
figure his  conduct.  Objectors  to  his  life  being  a model 
life  dwell  particularly  on  his  cursing  a barren  fig-tree 
and  driving  money  changers  out  of  the  temple.  Now 
when  these  acts  are  misinterpreted  as  ventings  of  per- 
sonal spleen,  or  displays  of  vulgar  indignation  against 
objects  and  individuals  which  have  disappointed,  an- 
noyed or  injured  him,  they  certainly  are  serious  blem- 
ishes and  prove  him  to  have  been  decidedly  imperfect ; 


484 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


but  when  these  same  exhibitions  of  manifestly  righteous 
indignation  are  taken  for  what  they  really  are,  protests 
against  hypocrisy  and  injustice,  they  enhance  the  grand- 
eur of  a character  they  would  otherwise  disfigure. 

The  Palestinian  fig-tree  has  no  right  to  be  covered 
with  leaves  until  it  is  bearing  fruit,  for  its  striking  pe- 
culiarity is  that  when  covered  with  leaves,  travelers 
seeing  it  from  a distance  know  they  will  find  fruit 
thereon.  A tree  covered  with  leaves  but  destitute  of 
fruit  would  lead  tired,  hungry,  thirsty  travelers  out  of 
their  way.  It  is  then  an  expressive  symbol  of  hypo- 
crites and  of  institutions  which  promise  much  and  per- 
form nothing.  To  blast  it  is  to  defeat  the  schemes  of 
pretenders ; its  removal  is  a public  benefaction.  Now 
an  important  part  of  the  work  of  a genuine  reformer  is 
to  abate  nuisances  and  put  down  all  deceit  and  pretence 
to  the  utmost  of  his  ability.  In  the  temple  courts  at 
Jerusalem,  oxen,  sheep  and  birds  were  sold  for  sacri- 
fice. Three  times  a year  when  crowds  of  country  folk 
came  to  the  temple,  an  immense  trade  was  done  by  the 
traders  in  the  outer  courts  of  the  temple.  While  they 
were  honest  they  were  in  no  sense  a nuisance,  but  when 
through  their  unprincipled,  extortion  they  made  the 
house  of  God  a den  of  thieves,”  it  was  the  plain  duty 
of  a lover  of  justice  and  humanity  to  drive  them  out. 
But  why  did  a company  of  men  allow  themselves  to  be 
driven  out  by  one?  Why  did  they  not  take  a whip 
and  drive  him  out  who  dared  to  interfere  with  them  ? 
Surely  the  answer  is  not  far  to  seek.  J esus  driving  out 
usurers,  extortioners,  with  a whip  of  small  cords,  is  a 
forcible  picture  of  human  conscience,  aroused  by  burn- 


LECTITBE  XXII. 


485 


ing  words  of  manly  protest  against  iniquity — conscience 
being  itself  the  whip  which  forces  from  the  temple  courts 
the  self-convicted  usurer. 

Jesus  spoke  to  the  consciences  of  these  men,  he  awoke 
within  them  a burning  sense  of  shame  at  their  own 
wrong  doing,  and  maybe  threw  the  tables  down  in  his 
earnest  protest  against  wrong,  while  the  humiliated  sin- 
ners could  not  resist  the  force  of  his  sublime  appeal. 
He  was  not  injured,  but  as  the  friend  of  the  people 
standing  for  the  public  good,  he  resolutely  (regardless 
of  any  possible  risk  to  himself)  put  himself  between  the 
people  and  their  oppressors. 

Jesus,  it  is  frequently  said,  was  the  friend  of  the  poor 
in  the  wrong  way,  because  he  pronounced  poverty  blessed. 
His  teachings  on  this  subject  were,  however,  only  to 
the  effect  that  ill-gotten  gain  is  accursed,  while  honest 
poverty  is  no  disgrace.  Unlike  incendiary  atheistic  an- 
archists, he  would  effect  reform,  not  by  denouncing  all 
capitalists  as  devils,  but  by  moving  the  hearts  and  minds 
of  rich  and  poor  alike  to  reconstruct  society  on  a basis 
of  justice.  Anarchists  and  nihilists  have  wrongs  to  right, 
grievances  to  redress,  it  is  true,  but  incendiary  speeches 
and  writings  can  never  bring  about  reform.  Rich  and 
poor  alike  are  amenable  to  justice,  and  while  the  wage 
system  is  not  the  ultimate,  it  cannot  be  abolished  by 
violent  means,  though  it  will  be  outgrown  through 
preaching  and  practice  pertaining  to  the  new  era. 

Jesus,  as  a co-operator  at  war  with  competition  in  all 
its  phases,  is  the  central  figure  in  the  new  theology. 
The  received  human  Christ  has  a special  message  to 
discontented  workingmen,  and  can  find  his  way  to  the 


486 


STUDIES  IN  THEOSOPHY. 


/ 


hearts  and  minds  of  the  laboring  classes  at  the  east  end 
of  London.  We  read  with  surprise  the  words  of  Bishop 
Potter  concerning  rivalry  and  competition,  as  published 
in  Scribner^ s Magazine^  Feb.  1889,  in  an  article  on  ^‘The 
Competitive  Element  in  Modern  Life.”  That  such  ut- 
terances should  proceed  from  a Christian  bishop  proves 
afresh  that  a re-conception  of  Christ  is  indeed  a neces- 
sity to-day.  Competition  is  infernal ; rivalry  is  diaboli- 
cal ; and  a man  or  woman  must  be  short-sighted  indeed 
who  does  not  see  that  lawful  ambition  to  excel  is  not 
desire  to  get  ahead  of  some  one  else,  but  to  contribute 
one’s  proper  share  to  the  success  of  a grand  perform- 
ance on  the  stage  of  life,  in  which  every  part  needs  to 
be  well  sustained  by  thoroughly  competent  actors.  A 
theatrical  simile  may  serve  to  illustrate  the  truth  we 
seek  to  convey.  A grand  opera  needs  that  every  part 
be  admirably  taken.  The  star  system  is  an  offence 
against  propriety  and  shocks  all  sensitive  lovers  of  good 
music,  for  to  have  one  part  taken  superbly  by  one  per- 
son and  all  other  parts  taken  badly,  or  at  least  indif- 
ferently, mutilates  the  composer’s  idea  and  effectually 
spoils  the  performance.  In  an  ideal  opera  troupe  all 
are  stars,  all  excel,  all  shine,  not  as  rivals,  but  in  galax- 
ies necessary  to  the  completeness  of  the  scene.  If  one 
is  honored,  all  share  the  honor ; if  one  is  deficient,  the 
effect  of  everybody’s  work  is  marred.  So  in  human  life  : 
no  one  can  rise  by  another’s  fall,  and  none  need  fall 
through  another’s  rise.  Co-operation  is  the  key-note  of 
social  order,  while  the  ambition  to  excel  nobly  is  the 
antithesis  of  rivalry. 


V 


APPENDIX. 

REVIEW  OF  “THE  LIGHT  OF  EGYPT;  OR,  THE  SCIENCE 
OF  THE  SOUL  AND  THE  STARS.” 

The  most  singular  work  recently  published  by  the  Religio- Philosoph- 
ical Publishing  House,  Chicago,  bearing  the  above  title,  is  deserving  of 
more  than  a cursory  glance.  Though  it  is  by  no  means  a thoroughly 
theosophical  work,  and  has  been  severely  criticised  in  the  Path  and 
other  periodicals,  yet  it  contains  much  interesting  and  useful  informa- 
tion. Its  authorship  is  curiously  anonymous,  as  a glance  at  its  title-page 
will  show.  We  ask,  “ Who  is  ‘ X ’ ? ” and  echo  answers,  “ Who  ? ” 
A quotation  from  Rev.  chaps,  i.  and  v.  constitutes  the  prelude  to  the 
work  : “ Write  the  things  which  thou  hast  seen^  and  the  things  which 
are,  and  the  things  which  shall  be  hereafter ; The  Mystery  of  the 
Seven  Stars  which  thou  sawest  in  my  right  hand.”  Is  the  reader  to 
infer  that  the  mysterious  author,  whose  name  is  represented  by  a sign, 
is  gifted  like  unto  John  the  Evangelist  or  Swedenborg  ? The  work  is 
dedicated  “To  the  Budding  Spirituality  of  the  Occident  and  the  Rising 
Genius  of  the  Western  Race.”  That  our  readers  may  be  informed  at 
the  outset  of  this  review  of  the  ground  plan  of  the  work  we  place  before 
them  its  preface,  which  is  as  follows : — 

“The  reasons  which  have  induced  the  writer  to  undertake  the 
responsibility  of  presenting  a purely  occult  treatise  to  the  world,  are 
briefly  these : — 

“For  nearly  twenty  years  the  writer  has  been  deeply  engaged  in- 
vestigating the  hidden  realms  of  occult  force,  and,  as  the  results  of 
these  mystical  labors  were  considered  to  be  of  great  value  and  real 
worth  by  a few  personal  acquaintances  who  were  also  seeking  light, 
he  was  Anally  induced  to  condense,  as  far  as  practicable,  the  general 


488 


APPENDIX. 


results  of  these  researches  into  a series  of  lessons  for  private  occult 
study.  This  idea  was  ultimately  carried  out  and  put  into  external 
form;  the  whole,  when  completed,  presenting  the  dual  aspects  of 
occult  lore  as  seen  and  realized  in  the  soul  and  the  stars,  correspond- 
ing to  the  microcosm  and  the  macrocosm  of  ancient  Egypt  and  Chal- 
dea, and  thus  giving  a brief  epitome  of  Hermetic  philosophy.  i 

“ Having  served  their  original  purpose,  external  circumstances  have 
compelled  their  preparation  for  a much  wider  circle  of  minds.  The 
chief  reason  urging  to  this  step  was  the  strenuous  efforts  now  being 
systematically  put  forth  to  poison  the  budding  spirituality  of  the  wes- 
tern mind,  and  to  fasten  upon  its  mediumistic  mentality  the  subtle, 
delusive  dogmas  of  Karma  and  Ee- incarnation,  as  taught  by  the  sacer- 
dotalisms of  the  decaying  Orient. 

“From  the  foregoing  statement  it  will  be  seen  that  this  work  is 
issued  with  a definite  purpose,  namely,  to  explain  the  true  spiritual 
connection  between  God  and  man,  the  soul  and  the  stars,  and  to 
reveal  the  real  truths  of  both  Karma  and  Ee- incarnation  as  they  actu- 
ally exist  in  nature,  stripped  of  all  priestly  interpretation.  The  definite 
statements  made  in  regard  to  these  subjects  are  absolute  facts,  in  so 
far  as  embodied  man  can  understand  them  through  the  symbolism  of 
human  language,  and  the  writer  defies  contradiction  by  any  living 
authority  who  possesses  the  spiritual  right  to  say,  ‘ I know.  ’ 

“ During  these  twenty  years  of  personal  intercourse  with  the  exalted 
minds  of  those  who  constitute  the  brethren  of  light,  the  fact  was  re- 
vealed that  long  ages  ago  the  Orient  had  lost  the  use  of  the  true  spirit- 
ual compass  of  the  soul,  as  well  as  the  real  secrets  of  its  own  Theosophy. 
As  a race,  they  have  been,  and  still  are,  traveling  the  descending 
arc  of  this  racial  cycle,  whereas  the  western  race  have  been  slowly 
working  their  way  upward  through  matter  upon  the  ascending  arc. 
Already  it  has  reached  the  equator  of  its  mental  and  spiritual  develop- 
ment. Therefore  the  writer  does  not  fear  the  ultimate  results  of  the 
occult  knowledge  put  forth  in  the  present  work,  during  this,  the  great 
mental  crisis  of  the  race. 

‘‘  Having  explained  the  actual  causes  which  impelled  the  writer  to 
undertake  this  responsibility,  it  is  also  necessary  to  state  most  em- 
phatically that  he  does  not  wish  to  convey  the  impression  to  the 
reader’s  mind  that  the  Orient  is  destitute  of  spiritual  truth.  On  the 


1 The  term  Hermetk  Is  here  used  in  its  true  sense  of  sealed  or  secret. 


APPENDIX. 


489 


contrary,  every  genuine  student  of  occult  lore  is  justly  proud  of  the 
snow-white  locks  of  old  Hindustan,  and  thoroughly  appreciates  the 
wondrous  stores  of  mystical  knowledge  concealed  within  the  astral 
vortices  of  the  Hindu  branch  of  the  Aryan  race.  In  India,  probably 
more  than  in  any  other  country,  are  the  latent  forces  and  mysteries  of 
nature  the  subject  of  thought  and  study.  But  alas  ! it  is  not  a pro- 
gressive study.  The  descending  arc  of  this  spiritual  force  keeps  them 
bound  to  the  dogmas,  traditions,  and  externalisms  of  the  decaying 
past,  whose  real  secrets  they  cannot  now  penetrate.  The  ever-living 
truths  concealed  beneath  the  symbols  in  the  astral  light  are  hidden 
from  this  view  by  the  setting  sun  of  their  spiritual  cycle.  Therefore, 
the  writer  only  desires  to  impress  upon  the  reader’s  candid  mind  the 
fact  that  his  earnest  effort  is  to  expose  that  particular  section  of 
Buddhistic  Theosophy  (esoteric,  so  called)  that  would  fasten  the 
cramping  shackles  of  theological  dogma  upon  the  rising  genius  of  the 
western  race.  It  is  the  delusive  Oriental  systems  against  which  his 
efforts  are  directed,  and  not  the  race  nor  the  mediumistic  individuals 
who  uphold  and  support  them ; for  ‘ omnia  vincit  veritas  ’ is  the  life 
motto  of  The  Author.” 

We  are  entirely  unacquainted  with  the  particular  species  of  Bud- 
dhistic Theosophy  referred  to.  The  Theosophical  Society  bears  no 
resemblance  to  the  system  characterized  in  the  above  preface.  Why 
cannot  writers  put  forward  their  honest  convictions  without  insinu- 
ating evil  of  others  ? Evil  speaking  is  characteristic  of  no  true  adept. 
“Truth  conquers  all  things”  indeed,  and  whoever  adopts  this  motto 
for  his  own  should  remember  the  precept,  “Overcome  evil  with  good,” 
or  he  may  soon  find  himself  a “ mediumistic  individual  ” controlled 
by  “ cramping  shackles  ” of  prejudice  and  misconception. 

The  introduction  to  Part  I.  inculcates  many  good  ideas.  The  dia- 
gram which  is  its  frontispiece  is  an  ambitious  and  ingenious  attempt  to 
represent  “the  realm  of  spirit.”  The  background  is  black;  in  the 
centre  is  a seven- pointed  star,  the  points  of  which  represent  the  seven 
prismatic  hues,  — red,  violet,  indigo,  blue,  green,  yellow,  and  orange. 
The  central  sphere  or  body  of  the  star  contains  a central  eye,  enclosed 
within  a triangle,  the  sides  of  which  are  marked  with  the  words  Light, 
Love,  Live.  Surrounding  this  central  figure  are  seven  spheres,  desig- 
nated as  follows,  according  to  the  names  of  the  seven  representative 
angels : — 


490 


APPENDIX. 


Kino-dor?i 


Viciojy 


Beauty 


Power 


Sdmuel 

Slrer^lh 


Sp^endoi/r. 

Raphael 

Inlellig'enee 


Gabriel 

lecundencv 


•Jualice 


Zackarial  Gassiel 
Greatness  A Patience 


At  the  foot  of  the  figure  are  the  following  quotations  from  the  1st 
chapter  of  the  4th  Gospel : ‘‘In  the  beginning  was  the  Word,  and  the 
Word  was  with  God,  and  the  Word  was  God.”  Though  the  seven 
angels  are  distinctly  Kabalistic  and  the  quotation  Graeco- Christian,  there 
is  nothing  necessarily  incongruous  in  this  grouping.  As  the  Egyptians 
doubtless  originally  conveyed  instruction  in  the  mysteries  first  to  the 
Hebrews  and  then  to  the  Greeks,  Christianity  undeniably  perpetuated 
many  Egyptian  secrets,  which  it  veiled  from  the  multitude  in  the  sym- 
bols of  the  church  and  the  ritual  of  secret  orders. 

Section  1,  Chapter  I.,  dealing  with  Involution,  supplies  us  with  some 
extraordinary  theories.  In  our  judgment  the  words  “wncowscmws” 
and  motionless cannot  reasonably  be  applied  to  ^'•Divinity'’’' ; but 
of  course  there  is  an  unpenetrated,  though  not  necessarily  impene- 


APPENDIX. 


491 


trable  life,  which  not  even  the  wisest  has  fully  analyzed.  Would  it 
not  be  advisable,  in  view  of  the  “great  mystery,”  to  be  cautious  in 
the  use  of  negative  adjectives  ? Is  it  not  extremely  probable  that  what 
seems  to  us  unconscious  or  motionless  is  more  conscious  and  more 
active  than  aught  we  comprehend  ? and  do  not  scientific  revelations 
in  these  days  support  this  supposition  ? “ The  whole  universe  is  filled 
with  the  Deific  presence  of  God”  is,  no  doubt,  an  accurate  statement, 
and  doubtless  it  is  also  true  that  “the  universe  is  boundless  and  unlim- 
ited, — a circle  whose  circumference  is  everywhere  and  whose  centre  is 
nowhere”;  and  also  that  “the  universe  is  dual,  and  consists  of  the 
manifest  and  the  non- manifest.”  But  the  language  is  in  one  instance 
tautological,  and  in  neither  case  easy  to  be  comprehended.  We  should 
say  the  centre  is  everywhere  and  the  circumference  nowhere  were  we 
speaking  of  infinity,  but  perhaps  our  definition  is  no  clearer  than  the 
one  we  have  quoted ; however,  it  seems  clearer  to  us,  and  may  seem 
so  to  some  at  least  of  our  readers,  therefore  we  append  it.  The  ex- 
planation of  the  diagram  is  simple,  and  we  give  it  in  the  words  of  the 
book,  as  we  deem  it  well  worthy  of  consideration ; “ The  central  triad 
represents  Love,  Wisdom,  and  Crown”  (the  Hebrew  word  kepher  sig- 
nifies truth  — in  this  connection,  though,  crown  is  the  literal  transla- 
tion); “the  seven-pointed  star  the  seven  rays  issuing  therefrom;  the 
seven  circles  show  the  seven  angelic  worlds  formed  from  the  seven 
active  principles ; the  names  Cassiel,  Michael,  etc. , are  Kabalistical 
ones  for  the  Sephiroth,  while  the  words  above  and  below  show  their 
attributes.” 

In  Chapter  II.  matter  is  described  as  “the  polar  opposite  of  mani- 
fested spirit,”  the  reaction  of  spiritual  action.  Evolution  is  cor- 
rectly defined  from  the  Latin  e and  voluo  (to  unroll).  “Man,  in  his 
physical  body,  is  a perfect  epitome  of  the  planet  upon  which  he  lives, 
while  the  celestial  worlds  find  their  perfect  expression  in  his  soul.” 
“Every  known  ‘thing’  is  dependent  upon  a something  else,  and  all 
things,  therefore,  eventually  dependent  upon  each  other.”  Such 
passages  teach  very  good  Theosophy,  and  whoever  may  be  their  au- 
thor, the  reader  cannot  but  be  instructed  by  their  perusal.  “Evolu- 
tion is  dependent  upon  involution”  is  another  great  truth. 

As  in  the  Buddhistic  idea  of  man  there  are  seven  “principles,”  so 
is  it  with  the  Kabalistic.  The  definitions  are  as  follows : — 

1.  The  Spiritual ; creative.  The  Word. 

2.  The  Astral ; realm  of  design.  The  Idea. 


492 


APPENDIX. 


3. 

The  Aerial ; 

realm  of  force. 

Power. 

4. 

The  Mineral ; 

phenomenal. 

Justice. 

6. 

The  Vegetable ; 

; life. 

Beauty. 

6. 

The  Animal ; 

consciousness. 

Love. 

7. 

The  Human ; 

mind. 

Glory. 

The  author  does  not  claim  any  originality  for  these  views,  but  declares 
they  have  been  known  to  Hermetic  initiates  for  at  least  a thousand 
generations.  Hermes  Trismegistus,  the  great  Prince  of  Egyptian 
hierophants,  distinctly  declared,  ‘‘The  Universe  is  from  God,  and 
man  from  the  Universe.”  If  the  first  two  chapters  of  Genesis  are 
studied  in  the  light  of  the  Kabala,  the  Bible  student  will  find  no  con- 
flict in  the  two  accounts  of  creation,  as  the  first  refers  to  the  spiritual 
from  God,  the  second  to  the  physical  from  the  “ sons  of  God.” 

Concerning  sex  in  spirit  the  author  contends  that  the  male  and 
female  forms  are  always  distinctly  preserved.  This  doctrine  is  stead- 
fastly maintained  in  Mrs.  Richmond’s  “Soul  and  its  Embodiments,” 
though  that  work  teaches  quite  differently  on  the  question  of  repeated 
embodiments.  “Twin  souls  are  related  to  each  other  primarily  as 
brother  and  sister,  and  finally  as  man  and  wife.”  Many  very  good 
ideas  on  marriage  are  set  forth,  and  asceticism  is  frowned  upon,  ex- 
cept in  cases  where  physical  continence  is  the  result  of  inward  purity. 
All  metaphysicians  are  bound  to  agree  that  when  impure  desires  are 
permitted  to  run  riot  in  the  mind,  physical  abstinence  from  indul- 
gence is  no  safeguard  from  the  attacks  of  evil  influences.  On  the 
question  of  celibacy  the  author  says,  “Upon  one  plane  it  becomes  a 
delusion  and  a snare ; but  upon  a higher  plane  it  contains  all  the  ele- 
ments of  a glorious  truth.”  This  statement  we  know  to  be  true. 
The  affections  must  be  spiritualized  before  any  outward  expression 
of  purity  can  be  genuine ; and  as  our  secret  thoughts  are  magnets, 
attracting  unseen  influences,  it  is  impossible  to  lay  too  much  stress  on 
purity  of  thought.  Of  this  we  may  rest  assured : no  hypocritical  sanc- 
timony or  slavish  prudery  can  protect  any  one  against  unseen  dan- 
gers, however  much  it  may  throw  a fictitious  halo  around  an  earthly 
reputation. 

Section  2 opens  with  a dissertation  on  “ Incarnation  and  Re- incarna- 
tion.” While  the  author  may  be  correct  in  some  of  his  comments 
upon  ancient  sacerdotal  systems,  his  style  is  exaggerated,  and  little 
that  he  has  to  say  on  this  subject  can  be  called  luminous.  Evidently 
he  is  prejudiced  against  “ re- incarnation,”  and  there  is  nothing  like 


APPENDIX. 


493 


prejudice  for  concealing  truth.  Many  of  the  assertions  in  this  section 
misrepresent  the  doctrine;  the  “Inversive  Brethren,”  against  whom 
we  are  warned,  have  probably  inspired  much  that  is  here  written ; and 
then  with  cunning  subtlety  warned  readers  against  others.  The  argu- 
ments against  “ re- incarnation  ” are  often  ludicrously  inconsistent. 
They  have  a value,  however,  in  showing  how  very  little  can  really  be 
advanced  in  opposition  to  the  doctrine.  Do  not  let  us  be  understood 
to  say  that  none  of  the  views  put  forward  concerning  the  spirit- 
ual world  and  the  transit  of  the  soul  from  planet  to  planet  are  correct ; 
we  believe  many  of  them  to  be  true,  but  we  do  say  most  emphatically, 
that  the  arguments  amount  to  nothing  in  disproof  of  the  idea  he  is 
combating.  On  the  contrary,  his  assertion  proves,  rather  than  dis- 
proves, what  he  seeks  to  condemn. 

Notwithstanding  a perfect  diatribe  against  “ re- incarnation  ” in  gen- 
eral, in  three  particular  classes  of  instances  it  is  said  to  take  place : 
1st.  Still-born  children  and  those  not  allowed  to  come  to  maturity. 
2d.  “Natural  born  idiots.”  .3d.  “Messianic  incarnation  by  exalted 
souls,  for  the  special  purpose  of  enlightening  the  race.”  No  doubt 
these  three  classes  are  represented  in  “re- incarnation,”  but  are  they 
the  only  ones  ? 

“The  Hermetic  Constitution  of  Man”  makes  a very  interesting 
chapter.  The  seven  divisions,  counting  upward,  are : A,  The  physical 
form ; B,  an  electro- vital  body ; C,  an  astral  form ; D,  the  animal 
soul ; E,  the  spiritual  body ; F,  the  divine  soul ; G,  the  pure  spirit  en- 
tity itself ; the  divine  Ego,  which  is  the  divine  atom  of  life,  the  central 
spiritual  sun  of  the  microcosm.  The  author  proceeds  to  defend  his 
system  at  the  expense  of  a supposed  “Buddhism”  which  is  his  pet 
aversion.  If  the  theories  stated  were  not  connected  with  abuse  of  this 
curious  caricature  of  Buddhism,  they  would  be  very  readable  ; but  this 
constant  attacking  something  the  author  lamentably  misconceives,  is 
belittling  to  the  work  and  irritating  to  the  non-partisan  searcher  for 
truth.  Could  “The  Light  of  Egypt”  be  re-written  with  the  obnoxious 
elements  expurgated,  it  would  be  a valuable  theosophical  work  for  ref- 
erence ; as  it  is,  it  engenders  and  fosters  much  needless  hostility. 

The  chapter  on  Karma  ” is  often  amusing  by  reason  of  the  singu- 
lar manner  in  which  it  confounds  “ Karma  ” with  the  astral  light. 

We  find,  despite  this  extreme  paucity  of  reason  displayed  in  con- 
nection with  a prejudged  theme,  much  interesting  theorizing  on  the 
successive  races  of  mankind,  which,  according  to  our  author,  were : 


494 


APPENDIX. 


1st,  gold ; 2d,  silver ; 3d,  copper.  Amid  a mass  of  rubbish  and  mis- 
statement we  pick  up  a beautiful  gem  of  thought:  “Do  good,  not  for 
the  sake  of  gaining  good  thereby,  but  for  the  sake  of  simple  goodness 
and  virtue  alone.”  If  Karma  cannot  be  interfered  with,”  it  can  be 
outlived  and  outgrown ; the  law  cannot  be  changed ; but  our  life  to-day 
can  atone  for  our  past  follies.  This  all  Theosophy  teaches,  though 
possibly  some  individual  Theosophists  are  not  very  happy  in  some  of 
their  expressions  on  the  subject. 

What  is  said  on  “Mediumship,  its  Nature  and  Mysteries”  (chap. 
IV.,  sec.  2),  contains  a good  share  of  sound  metaphysical  teaching. 
This  chapter  could  and  may  be  profitably  studied  by  all  Spiritualists, 
and  those  seeking  information  concerning  Spiritualism.  Section  3 treats 
upon  “The  Soul,  its  Nature  and  Attributes,”  headed  with  this  sen- 
tence from  Plutarch ; “The  divine  spirit  is  to  the  soul  what  the  soul  is 
to  the  body ; ” and  ends  with  another  great  axiom,  “ Know  the  Divinity 
within  you,  that  you  may  know  the  Divine  One,  of  which  your  soul  is 
a ray.  ” “ Every  soul  is  immortal  by  virtue  of  its  community  with  God.  ’ ’ 
Albertus  Magnus  heads  a chapter  on  “Mortality  and  Immortality,” 
decidedly  a fine  production.  Chapter  III.,  “The  Dark  Satellite,”  will 
interest  lovers  of  the  uncanny.  Chapter  IV.,  “The  Triumph  of  the 
Soul,  Adeptship,”  contains  salutary  advice,  though  here  again  the 
advancing  student  must  learn  to  select  the  wheat  from  theT  chaff,  and 
not  mistake  acrimony  for  wisdom.  Another  septenary  table  is  here 
given,  defining  the  seven  senses. 


Physical  senses, 

1.  Touch. 

2.  Taste. 

3.  Smell. 

4.  Sight. 

5.  Hearing. 

6.  Intuition. 

7.  Thought  transference. 


Soul  senses, 

1.  The  power  to  psychometrize. 

2.  The  power  to  absorb  and  enjoy  the  finer 

essence  of  the  life  wave. 

3.  The  power  to  distinguish  the  spiritual  aro- 

mas of  nature. 

4.  The  lucid  state,  called  clairvoyance. 

5.  The  ability  to  perceive  ethereal  vibrations, 

called  clairaudience. 

6.  The  capacity  to  receive  true  inspiration. 

7.  The  power  to  converse  with  spiritual  beings 

at  will. 


Part  II.  of  this  singular  book  is  on  “ The  Science  of  the  Stars,”  and 
will  well  repay  perusal.  It  certainly  is  a very  fair  statement  of  astrol- 


APPENDIX. 


495 


ogy,  and  not  calculated  to  lead  to  pessimistic  conclusions,  as  the  author 
allows  a great  deal  of  liberty  to  man  to  shape  his  own  destiny.  The 
frontispiece  to  this  second  part  is  the  figure  of  a man  standing  in  the 
center  of  the  zodiacal  serpent.  “ Astrology  per  se  is  a combination  of 
two  sciences,  viz.,  astronomy  and  correspondences.  These  two  are 
related  to  each  other  as  hand  and  glove  ; the  former  deals  with  suns, 
moons,  planets,  and  stars,  and  strictly  confines  its  researches  to  a 
knowledge  of  their  size,  distance,  and  motion ; while  the  latter  deals 
with  the  spiritual  and  physical  influences  of  the  same  bodies,  — first 
upon  each  other,  then  upon  the  earth,  and  lastly  upon  the  organism  of 
man.  Astronomy  is  the  external  lifeless  glove ; correspondences  the 
living  hand  within.  ’ ’ Exactly  what  we  have  said  many  times  in  our 
public  lectures  and  private  instructions,  and  for  saying  which  have 
been  accused  of  indorsing  effete  superstition ; but  truth  will  triumph, 
and  the  ignorant  externalists  who  deny  in  toto  the  ancient  wisdom  of 
Chaldea  and  other  favored  climes  in  the  long  ago,  must,  in  this  age  of 
re- awakening  intelligence,  come  ere  long  to  see  things  as  they  really 
are  and  not  as  they  blindly  supposed  them  to  be.  Astrology,  rightly 
understood,  is  the  spiritual  side  of  astronomy ; these  sciences  always 
went  together  with  the  learned  of  old ; ignorance  has  divorced  them, 
knowledge  will  re-unite  them.  The  language  in  the  introduction  to 
this  second  part  often  rises  to  the  sublime,  and  shows  the  touch  of  a 
finished  scholar. 

The  writer  heads  the  first  chapter  of  his  treatise  with  these  words  : 
“ So  God  created  man  in  his  own  image,  in  his  own  image  created  he 
him.”  Students  of  spiritual  and  mental  healing  will  find  much  to 
think  about  if  they  ponder  upon  such  statements  as  this : — 

“ When  trouble  or  anxiety  of  mind  crosses  our  path,  the  first  place 
where  we  feel  its  influence  is  that  part  of  the  body  called  the  pit  of  the 
stomach.  This  sensitive  region  is  within  the  solar  plexus.  How  many 
times  do  forebodings  of  coming  trouble  impress  themselves  upon  this 
delicate  center.  . . . The  solar  plexus  is  our  grand  contracting  point 
whereby  we  are  placed  en  rapport  with  all  things  external  to  us ; there- 
fore we  can  see  that  the  true  psychical  basis  of  physical  health  rests 
with  this  center ; for  it  is  taken  for  granted  that  man  is  by  lawful 
superiority  the  natural  ruler  of  those  powers  which  live,  move,  and 
have  their  being  within  his  own  magnetic  dominions.  To  possess  true 
psychological  power  which  shall  be  subject  to  the  imperial  will,  and 
thus  be  able  to  assume  perfect  control  of  the  odyllic  sphere ; to  con- 


496 


APPENDIX. 


centrate  all  our  loyal  forces,  at  a moment’s  notice,  upon  any  particu- 
lar section  of  this  magnetic  kingdom,  and  thus  instantly  subdue  any 
revolt  of  the  reactionary  powers,  — it  is  absolutely  imperative  that  our 
physical  bodies  be  kept  free  and  uncramped  by  any  article  of  dress 
which  restrains  us  from  developing  our  true  natural  forms.” 

Some  very  wise  words  are  to  be  found  on  page  176  concerning 
colors,  all  of  which  are  pronounced  good  in  their  significance,  though 
when  mediumistic  persons  see  dull  colors  around  persons  the  dullness 
of  the  tint  denotes  impurity,  or  at  least  a lamentable  deficiency  of 
spirituality.  Colors  without  doubt  have  a very  powerful  influence  "bn 
all  sensitive  persons.  White  is  always  congenial  to  the  innocent  and 
pure-minded,  as  it  denotes  both  simplicity  and  entirety.  Red,  when 
bright  and  clear,  denotes  pure  love  and  mental  power,  but  when  dull 
and  dirty-looking  signifies  unhallowed  animality  and  perverted  strength. 
Blue  means  fidelity,  truth,  constancy.  Yellow  signifies  wisdom,  knowl- 
edge, understanding.  Green  is  indicative  of  delight  in  externals  ; but 
each  and  every  color,  when  seen  in  the  aura  surrounding  a person  or 
object,  indicates  the  purity  or  impurity  represented  by  the  brightness 
or  dullness  of  the  color  seen. 

Concerning  Christian  Science,  the  following  remarks  are  made  on 
page  178 : “ It  is  utterly  impossible  for  antagonistic  natures  to  benefit 
each  other  mentally,  no  matter  how  good  or  pure  they,  as  individuals, 
maybe.”  This  no  doubt  is  true,  so  far  as  magnetic  influences  and 
mind- cure  are  concerned ; but  when  true  Spiritual  (or  Christian)  Science 
is  understood,  an  immense  difference  will  be  at  once  perceived,  as  the 
truly  scientific  healer  is  a teacher  who  appeals  to  the  innate  divinity 
of  a patient,  and  by  arousing  his  own  spiritual  nature  enables  him  to 
rectify  any  derangement  in  his  own  organism.  At  the  same  time  we 
frankly  admit  that  really  beneficial  results  are  rarely  obtained  when 
no  sympathy  is  felt  between  healer  and  patient.  In  our  chapter  on 
“Electric  Christian  Theosophy,”  containing  our  review  of  Marie  Co- 
relh’s  “ Romance  of  Two  Worlds,”  and  elsewhere  in  this  volume,  we 
have  expressed  our  views  fully  on  this  matter ; let  us  now  recommend  as 
a subject  of  special  reflection  for  all  healers  and  teachers  the  following 
Scripture  texts,  laying  peculiar  stress  on  the  pronouns : “ All  that  the 
Father  giveth  me  shall  come  to  me,  and  him  that  cometh  to  me  I will 
in  no  wise  cast  out.”  “In  my  Father’s  house  are  many  mansions. 
1 go  to  prepare  a place  for  you.  Where  I am  there  ye  may  be  also.” 
“ Wheresoever  two  or  three  are  gathered  together  in  my  name  there 


A:PPEi^DIX. 


497 


am  I in  the  midst  of  them.'^^  Not  Calvinism,  with  its  hideous  blas- 
phemies against  the  universal  action  of  Divine  Love  and  Wisdom 
which  it  abominably  travesties,  but  a spiritual  law  of  sympathetic 
attraction  is  set  forth  in  these  luminous  and  beautiful  lessons  from 
the  Gospel.  As  each  finds  his  own  sphere  and  does  his  own  work, 
minding  his  own  business,  not  intermeddling  with  his  neighbor’s 
affairs,  society  will  develop  into  a delightful  co-operative  common- 
wealth, and  the  demons  of  unjust  and  spiteful  rivalry  and  competition 
will  have  left  the  earth  to  appear  on  it  no  more  forever. 

Chapter  II.  is  headed  with  ‘ ‘And  the  Lord  set  a mark  upon  Cain,  lest 
any  one  finding  him  should  kill  him.”  In  the  midst  of  a good  deal  that 
appears  to  us  of  rather  doubtful  authenticity,  we  pick  up  many  pearls. 
Saturn  is  said  to  produce  a reserved  and  cold  nature,  which  corre- 
sponds to  the  blue  ray  of  the  spectrum.  Jupiter  is  described  as  con- 
ducive to  joviality,  generosity,  and  benevolence,  and  corresponds  to 
the  purple  or  indigo  ray.  Mars  generates  a fierce,  intrepid  force  and 
corresponds  to  the  red  ray.  The  Sun  “radiates  the  principle  which 
is  at  once  life-giving  and  dignified.  It  is  affable  but  majestic,  proud 
but  gracious,  and  blends  firmness  with  kindness,  ambition  with  pater- 
nal consideration,  combativeness  with  self-respect,  and  liberality  with 
discretion.”  It  corresponds  to  the  orange  ray.  The  above  is  a good 
general  outline  of  a solar  which  really  means  spiritually  governed  and 
well  balanced  character.  Venus  is  described  as  loving,  pliant,  and 
receptive,  but  capable  of  strong  attachment  for  a totally  different 
type;  hence  the  mythological  friendship  between  Mars  and  Venus. 
Venus  corresponds  to  the  yellow  ray.  Mercury  is  the  volatile  and 
commercial  planet,  bright  and  witty,  but  full  of  cunning  devices; 
it  corresponds  to  the  violet  ray.  The  Moon  is  wisely  dismissed 
without  any  definite  statement  concerning  its  attributes.  As  it  can 
be  only  an  astral  refiex  of  the  earth  it  corresponds  to  the  green  ray. 
Concerning  Uranus  and  Neptune  the  following  is  said:  “After  the 
seven  notes  of  the  magnetic  gamut  have  been  sounded,  the  next  note 
must  be  upon  a higher  octave  and  form  a repetition  of  the  first.” 
The  following  statement  is  of  interest:  “ There  is  still  another  planet 
more  remote  from  our  Sun  than  Neptune,  but  its  action  on  our  organ- 
ism at  present  is  because  the  present  races  have  not  yet  attained 
to  that  special  state  of  spiritual  and  mental  development  that  will 
admit  of  its  influence  becoming  manifest.  Neither  will  such  a planet 
become  visible  to  this  earth’s  inhabitants  until  there  is  sufficient 


498 


APPENDIX. 


mental  force  of  the  requisite  grade  to  enable  its  existence  to  become 
apparent.” 

A fine  astro-phrenological  chart  prefaces  Chapter  III.  It  explains 
that  the  Sun  and  Jupiter  are  related  to  man’s  moral  sentiments; 
Saturn  to  the  selfish  propensities ; Yenus  and  the  Moon  to  the  domes- 
tic qualities  and  semi- intellectual  sentiments ; Mars  to  perception. 
Phrenology  is  accepted  with  considerable  caution  and  modification, 
though  its  general  teachings  are  undisputed.  Some  very  curious  and 
elaborate  explanations  of  these  statements  are  given  in  clear,  per- 
spicuous language ; among  them  we  find  the  singular  declaration  that 
sorrow  is  symbolized  by  a square  or  angle  of  90®  ; harmony  by  a tri- 
angle, or  angle  of  120®.  Chapter  IV.  deals  with  the  Four  Triplicities, 
each  of  which  contains  three  zodiacal  signs.  The  fiery  trigon  em- 
braces Aries,  Leo,  and  Sagittarius ; the  earthly  trigon,  Taurus,  Virgo, 
and  Capricornus ; the  airy  trigon,  Gemini,  Libra,  and  Aquarius ; the 
watery  trigon.  Cancer,  Scorpio,  and  Pisces.  On  page  201  we  read : ‘‘The 
four  ancient  elements  have  been  symbolized  from  time  immemorial  as 
the  Man,  the  Bull,  the  Eagle,  and  the  Lion.”  In  Christian  art  these 
are  the  symbols  of  the  four  evangelists,  which  fact  alone,  were  others 
wanting,  should  be  enough  to  convince  the  thoughtful  student  that 
Christianity,  both  in  its  history  and  its  art,  is  not  by  any  means  a 
solitary  revelation.  Chapter  IV.  ends  with  a beautiful  interpreta- 
tion of  Eden.  On  page  203  is  a chart  entitled,  “The  Grand  Astro- 
logical Key  of  Alchemical  Science.”  In  its  center  is  a blazing  golden 
Sun,  radiating  four  sets  of  rays  respectively  denominated  Sylphs,  Un- 
dines, Gnomes,  and  Salamanders.  These,  according  to  Kabalistic  sci- 
ence, signify  the  four  great  groups  of  human  faculties,  — the  spiritual 
(salamanders),  the  imaginative  (sylphs),  the  intellectual  (undines),  and 
the  animal  (gnomes). 

Concerning  nativities,  we  are  told  that  the  longest  livers  are  usually 
bom  in  March,  April,  or  May ; while  the  bulk  of  the  short-lived  are 
born  in  August,  September,  or  October ; but  this  is  only  true  in  a very 
general  way.  Alchemy  is  treated  spiritually  and  sensibly,  and  proper 
warning  is  given  to  all  in  search  of  earthly  gold  by  means  of  desecrated 
occult  energies.  The  metals  have  their  planetary  rulers  designated. 

The  Astro- Kabalistical  Planisphere  of  the  Signs  and  Constellations 
of  the  Zodiac,  facing  page  210,  assigns  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel  to 
the  following  signs  and  months  : — 

Anes,  March,  Benjamin ; Taurus^  April,  Issachar ; Gemini^  May, 


Appendix. 


499 


Simeon-Levi ; Cancer^  June,  Zebulon ; Leo^  July,  Judah;  Virgo,  Au- 
gust, Asshur ; Libra,  September,  Dan ; Scorpio,  October,  Gad  ; Sagit- 
tarius, November,  Joseph;  Capricornus,  December,  Naphtali ; Aqua- 
rius, January,  Reuben ; Pisces,  February,  Ephraim  and  Manasseh. 
Thus  fourteen  names  are  given  to  the  tribes,  as  Gemini  and  Pisces  are 
dual  signs,  and  thus  express  duaUty  in  their  correspondences. 

The  symbolical  aspects  of  the  tv^elve  signs  are  very  interestingly 
amplified  as  the  Avork  proceeds.  Aries  represents  sacrifice ; astronom- 
ically it  is  the  lamb  slain  upon  the  equinoctial  cross.  Kabalistically  it 
refers  to  the  head  and  brains  of  the  grand  man  of  the  Cosmos.  Upon 
the  intellectual  plane  it  signifies  the  martial  or  contending  spirit.  On 
the  physical  plane  it  gives  the  native  a spare  but  strong  body,  medium 
height,  long  face  and  neck,  and  powerful  chest.  People  who  are  domi- 
nated by  this  sign  are  usually  courageous  and  ambitious,  but  irritable. 
Taurus  symbolizes  all  the  procreative  forces  in  nature ; it  is  the  sign 
of  husbandry.  Kabalistically  it  represents  the  ears,  neck,  and  throat 
of  the  grand  man,  and  is  considered  a silent,  patient,  listening  sign. 
Upon  the  intellectual  plane  Taurus  governs  carefulness  and  self-reli- 
ance, industry  and  application ; but  persons  of  Taurus''  nature  are 
fiery  as  an  infuriated  bull  when  greatly  aroused,  though  ordinarily 
reserved  and  equable.  Gemini  symbolizes  unity.  The  bright  stars. 
Castor  and  Pollux,  have  also  been  regarded  as  typical  of  twin  souls. 
Kabalistically  this  sign  represents  the  hands  and  arms  of  the  grand 
man,  and  therefore  governs  executive  and  mechanical  ability.  Upon 
the  intellectual  plane  Gemini  denotes  the  union  of  reason  with  intui- 
tion ; those  under  it  are  of  nervous  temperament  and  highly  magnetic ; 
physically  they  are  tall  and  erect.  Cancer  symbolizes  tenacity  to  life. 
Kabalistically  it  signifies  the  vital  organs  of  the  grand  man ; it  governs 
inspiration  and  respiration.  Upon  the  intellectual  plane  it  denotes  con- 
siderable force,  but  those  dominated  by  it  are  usually  timid  and  retir- 
ing ; but  their  passivity  renders  them  highly  mediumistic ; physically 
they  are  apt  to  be  small  and  fair.  Leo  symbolizes  indomitable  courage, 
linked  with  extraordinary  strength.  Kabalistically  it  represents  the 
heart  of  the  grand  man  ; those  born  under  its  infiuence  are  generally 
possessed  of  fine  constitution  and  great  recuperative  power.  On  the 
intellectual  plane  it  works  sympathetically,  making  the  native  gener- 
ous in  the  extreme ; physically,  this  sign  is  expressed  in  a large,  fair 
person,  broad-shouldered,  with  golden  hair.  Virgo  symbolizes  chas- 
tity. Kabalistically  it  is  the  solar  plexus  of  the  grand  man,  and  there- 


500  APPENDIX. 

fore  represents  the  assimilating  and  distributing  functions  of  the  human 
body.  Intellectually  it  denotes  the  fulfillment  of  hopes.  Those  recep- 
tive to  its  influx  are  characterized  by  love  of  reflection  and  study, 
consequently  they  become  repositories  of  knowledge.  Their  chief 
attributes  are  hope  and  contentment ; they  are  therefore  well  fitted 
for  close  application  to  scientific  pursuits.  Such  persons  possess  large 
brain  power,  and  make  excellent  statesmen.  Physically  they  are 
usually  of  medium  stature,  very  compact,  and  of  dark  complexion. 
As  orators  they  are  fluent,  practical,  and  entertaining.  Libra  typifies 
justice.  Kabalistically  it  stands  for  the  reins  and  loins  of  the  grand 
man,  and  therefore  represents  the  central  storehouse  of  reproductive 
ability.  Upon  the  universal  chart  it  denotes  equilibrium  as  expressed 
in  the  perfect  man.  Intellectually  it  rules  external  perception,  bal- 
anced by  intuition,  which  union  gives  foresight ; but  those  born  under 
it  rarely  become  practical  interpreters  of  their  theories : they  possess 
a finely  balanced  mental  and  magnetic  organism,  but  are  seldom  ele- 
vated to  very  prominent  positions.  Physically  they  are  usually  tall 
and  slender,  perfectly  proportioned,  with  brown  hair,  bright  blue  eyes, 
and  clear  complexion  ; sometimes,  however,  Libra  produces  very  dark 
hair.  Scorpio  symbolizes  death  and  deceit.  Kabalistically  it  typifies 
the  procreative  system,  which  by  the  ancients  was  always  typical  of 
divine  power  when  employed  spiritually,  but  of  sensuality  and  loss  of 
innocence  when  treated  of  as  carnal  emblems.  On  the  intellectual 
plane  Scorpio  signifies  the  generation  of  ideas ; persons  governed  by 
it  are  of  active,  evolutionary  minds  ; their  brains  literally  crammed 
with  inventive  imagery.  They  possess  keen  perception,  clear  intuition, 
and  powerful  will.  Physically  such  persons  are  strong  and  inclined  to 
corpulence.  Sagittarius  symbolizes  retribution,  and  also  a hunter. 
Kabalistically  it  signifies  the  thighs  of  the  grand  man — the  muscular 
foundation  of  the  seat  of  locomotion ; it  is  emblematic  of  stability. 
Intellectually  it  stands  for  organizing  power.  Persons  ruled  by  this 
are  loyal,  patriotic,  and  law-abiding ; they  are  also  generous  and  free, 
charitable  and  kind  to  the  distressed.  They  possess  strong  conserva- 
tive qualities,  and  their  characteristics  are  self-control  and  ability  to 
rule  others.  Physically  they  are  well-formed  and,  indeed,  handsome. 
Capricorn  typifies  sin  and  the  offerings  made  to  put  away  sin.  In  all 
ancient  mythologies  the  Saviour  of  mankind  was  born  at  midnight, 
directly  the  sun  enters  this  sign.  The  young  child  laid  in  the  stable 
in  Christian  commemorations,  according  to  a far  older  system  denotes 


APPENDIX. 


601 


the  birth  of  the  year  in  midwinter.  Kabalistically  this  sign  represents 
the  knees  of  the  grand  man  ; it  is  emblematic  of  servitude.  Intellectu- 
ally it  denotes  a scheming  temperament,  very  little  developed  spiritu- 
ally ; its  natives  are  intensely  quick  to  see  the  weak  points  in  others, 
and  turn  them  to  their  own  advantage.  Physically  they  are,  as  a rule, 
of  medium  stature,  not  very  well  proportioned,  and  though  energetic 
in  their ^own  interest,  indolent  in  the  employ  of  others.  Aquarius 
symbolizes  judgment.  Kabalistically  it  stands  for  the  legs  of  the 
grand  man ; it  emblematizes  the  migratory  forces  of  the  body.  Intel- 
lectually it  represents  popular  science : those  governed  by  it,  though 
brilliantly  intellectual,  are  confined  to  the  evidence  of  their  senses, 
and  cannot  peer  at  all  into  the  realm  of  such  truth  as  must  be  dis- 
cerned spiritually.  Physically  this  sign  gives  a decidedly  prepossess- 
ing appearance,  coupled  with  an  amiable  and  refined  disposition. 
Pisces  signifies  a flood.  Kabalistically  it  represents  the  feet  of  the 
grand  man ; it  is  emblematic  of  patient  obedience.  Intellectually  it 
betokens  mental  indifference : persons  ruled  by  it  take  things  as  they 
come,  and  no  serious  attention  to  anything.  Physically  its  na- 
tives are  ukially  short,  and  inclined  to  be  stout.  Their  nature  is 
peaceable,  but  their  actions  are  largely  influenced  by  their  surround- 
ings. 

Concerning  the  occult  application  of  the  twelve  signs,  we  learn  that 
the  four  triplicities  symbolize  the  four  cardinal  points  of  the  universe, 
constituting  the  universal  cross,  sacred  in  all  ages,  and  the  four  occult 
elements.  Fire,  Earth,  Air,  and  Water.  The  Fiery  Trigon  corresponds 
to  the  eastern  horizon  at  daybreak.  Fire  v/as  undoubtedly  the  origin 
of  all  worlds,  and  from  a fiery  state  they  have  gradually  cooled,  at 
length  becoming  inhabitable.  The  principle  of  heat,  termed  Caloric, 
sustains  all  living  organisms.  Fire  represents  courage,  zeal,  daring,  and 
will ; in  fact,  it  pertains  to  every  kind  of  activity  ; while  on  the  higher 
or  esoteric  plane  it  signifies  the  very  source  of  being,  which  is,  of 
course,  spiritual.  Aries,  Leo,  and  Sagittarius  correspond  to  the  intel- 
lect, the  emotions,  and  the  offspring  of  the  two  when  they  are  closely 
united.  The  Earthly  triplicity  stands  for  the  frozen  north,  the  symbol 
of  crystallization  : it  is  concerned  with  the  mutual  relations  of  solids, 
from  which  are  evolved  form,  proportion,  and  sound  ; it  also  refers  to 
all  metals  and  metallic  industries.  Esoterically,  Taurus,  Virgo,  and 
Capricorn  correspond  to  patient  effort,  formation,  and  reformation, 
and  the  results  of  these  in  distinct  expressions  of  force,  either  on  the 


502 


APPENDIX. 


upward  or  downward  grade  of  action.  The  Airy  triplicity  represents 
the  west,  or  the  setting  sun  ; but  this  only  gives  promise  of  a new  and 
brighter  day.  This  triplicity  deals  with  the  higher  qualities  of  the 
social,  political,  and  priestly  relations.  Its  esoteric  significance  is  the 
one  true  science,  the  knowledge  of  life  as  spirit  — the  one  enduring 
life  of  the  entire  universe.  The  Watery  triplicity,  symbolical  of  the 
south,  signifies  the  polar  opposite  of  the  Earthy,  and  therefore  repre- 
sents the  liquefaction  of  crystals  and  all  hard  substances  ; it  Expresses 
the  union  of  opposites,  the  harmonious  adjustment  of  contradictories. 
On  the  esoteric  plane  it  denotes  triumph  over  mundane  obstacles,  dif- 
ficulties vanquished,  paradise  regained.  The  reader  is  reminded  that 
the  four  triplicities  are  but  different  sections  of  attributes  within  the 
human  soul ; the  twelve  constellations  reveal  the  mystery  of  Adam 
Kadmon,  the  archetypal  man  of  the  starry  planisphere.  We  begin 
with  fire  and  terminate  with  water. 

We  here  append  a notice  of  the  twelve  precious  gems,  which  corre- 
spond to  the  twelve  signs,  and  are,  therefore,  according  to  astral  sci- 
ence, respectively  appropriate  to  be  worn  by  persons  born  in  the 
month  named,  as  a magnetic  talisman. 


Aries  . . . 

. March  . . . 

. Amethyst. 

Taurus . . . 

. April .... 

. Agate. 

Gemini . . . 

. May  .... 

. Beryl  (Crystal). 

Cancer . . . 

. June  .... 

. Emerald. 

Leo  .... 

. July  .... 

. Euby. 

Virgo  . . . 

. August  . . . , 

. Jasper. 

Libra  . . . , 

. September  . . , 

. Diamond. 

Scorpio  . . 

. October  ... 

. Topaz. 

Sagittarius  . , 

. November  . . , 

. Carbuncle. 

Capricorn  . . 

. December  . . 

. Onyx  (Chalcedony). 

Aquarius  . . 

. January.  . . 

. Sky-blue  Sapphire. 

Pisces  . . . 

. February  . . 

. Chrysolite. 

Having  entered  upon  this  subject  of  precious  gems  and  their  signifi- 
cance, we  will  only  add  our  decided  conviction  that  as  colors  and 
gems,  of  vivid  hue  especially,  exert  a marked  influence  both  upon 
human  beings  and  animals,  and  as  we  can  suppose  no  outward  form 
to  originate  without  some  spiritual  impulse,  we  conclude  that  were 
more  attention  given  to  this  subject,  we  might  derive  much  valuable 


APPENDIX. 


503 


and  practical  information  as  a guide  to  dressing  our  bodies  and  fur- 
nishing our  rooms  according  to  our  necessities.  Certain  it  is  that  all 
persons  are  not  influenced  alike  by  gems  and  colors : those  most  agree- 
able to  some  cause  annoyance  to  others.  Dr.  Babbitt,  in  “ The  Prin- 
ciples of  Light  and  Color,”  enters  very  deeply  into  this  theme ; and 
those  who  desire  to  pursue  it  to  a length  impossible  in  a work  not  ex- 
clusively devoted  to  that  topic,  would  do  well  to  peruse  that  learned 
volume. 

As  w have  no  further  space  to  follow  out  the  line  of  thought  sug- 
gested “ The  Light  of  Egypt,”  — the  second  half  of  which  is  fasci- 
nating in  the  extreme,  and  deals  with  astrology  more  succinctly  than 
we  have  ever  seen  that  abstruse  subject  dealt  with  elsewhere,  — we 
will  conclude  this  lengthy,  though  incomplete,  review  by  testifying  to 
our  own  perfect  agreement  with  the  best  views  on  astrology  now  being 
given  to  the  world.  As  man  contains  all  the  planets  and  constellations 
within  himself,  or,  at  all  events,  man  being  the  microcosm,  there  is 
no  element  without  him  which  is  not  also  within,  it  stands  to  reason 
that  the  wonderful  occult  sciences  of  the  ancients,  now  being  stripped 
of  their  my  itical  garb  as  rapidly  as  the  public  mind  can  benefit  by  the 
process,  all  end  at  the  same  grand  point,  and  declare  man  to  be  the 
arbiter  of  his  own  fate,  the  creator  of  his  own  destiny.  The  essential 
germ  of  life  we  vaguely  call  the  innermost  spirit  of  man  can  expand 
its  latent  forces,  in  every  instance,  until  human  beings  shall  com- 
pletely dominate  the  earth,  and  be  free  to  roam  at  will  through  the 
constellated  fields  of  space,  unhampered  by  any  external  limitation. 
True  Theosophy  is  the  knowledge  of  how  to  live  above  the  senses,  so 
as  to  make  them  serve  the  spirit  in  all  things  ; and  this  they  will  not 
do,  so  long  as  the  pressure  of  material  greed  is  allowed  to  make  such 
heavy  demands  upon  human  thought  and  energy.  To  live  in  the  world, 
and  yet  above  being  enslaved  by  it  in  anything,  is  to  find  the  royal 
road  to  health  and  happiness.  When  we  have  found  this  way,  and 
are  walking  in  it,  for  us  there  will  indeed  be  no  more  sin,  sickness,  or 
dying ; old  things  will  have  passed  away,  and  all  will  have  become 
new.  From  many  different  sources  we  may  gather  material  to  enrich 
our  store,  but,  turn  where  we  will,  the  same  great  truth  confronts 
us,  — Man  is  the  measure  of  the  universe,  and  mind  is  the  measure 
of  man. 


The  Problem  of  Life. 

EDITED  BY  W.  J.  COLVILLE. 


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